The New York Yankees bounce back and defeat the Houston Astros

The New York Yankees defeated the Houston Astros by the score of 7-4 on Tuesday night. Hiroki Kuroda started and pitched well but had a strange start. He struggled the first three innings but hung in there and pitched seven scoreless. The bullpen wasn’t great but Mariano Rivera did get his 10^th save in 10 chances. Travis Hafner, Eduardo Nunez and Ichiro Suzuki each had three hits. 
Kuroda pitched seven scoreless giving up four hits and four walks with eight strikeouts. Kuroda won his fourth game of the season which he has never had four wins in April before. David Robertson pitched an inning giving up two hits and two runs with two strikeouts, Shawn Kelley pitched 2/3 of an inning giving up three hits and two runs with a strikeout and Rivera earned his 10^th save striking out the only batter that he faced.

Brett Gardner drew a walk, Suzuki had three hits and Robinson Cano had two hits. Hafner had three hits, three RBI and drew a walk, Brennan Boesch had an RBI and Jayson Nix had a hit and an RBI. Lyle Overbay had a hit and an RBI, Nunez had three hits and Chris Stewart had two hits and an RBI. Nunez hit two doubles and Overbay hit a homerun. The Yankees were 6-18 with runners in scoring position and left 10 men on base. Gardner and Suzuki each had a stolen base.

Philip Humber started for the Astros and pitched six innings giving up nine hits and four runs. He walked two and struck out two and took his sixth loss of the season. Wesley Wright pitched 1/3 of an inning giving up a hit, Brad Peacock pitched 2/3 of an inning giving up three hits and three runs and Rhiner Cruz pitched an inning giving up two hits and striking out one.

Robbie Grossman had a hit and drew two walks, Jose Altuve had two hits and two RBI and Jason Castro had two hits. Carlos Pena had a hit and drew a walk, Chris Carter had a hit and two RBI and Dominguez had a hit. Barnes drew a walk, Gonzalez had a hit and hit a double with Altuve and Castro. Carter hit a homerun and the Astros were 1-8 with runners in scoring position and left eight men on base. Altuve was caught stealing.

Hafner hit an RBI single in the first to give the Yankees a 1-0 lead. Hafner hit an RBI single in the third to make it 2-0 Yankees. In the fifth the Yankees built up a 4-0 lead. Boesch hit an RBI groundout and Nix hit an RBI single. Carter hit a two run homerun in the eighth to cut the Yankees lead in half to 4-2. In the bottom of the eighth Overbay hit a solo homerun, Stewart hit an RBI single and Hafner hit an RBI single to make it 7-2 Yankees. The Astros scored a couple of runs in the ninth before Rivera shut the door. Altuve hit a two run double to complete the scoring and make the final 7-4.

The Yankees and Astros have each won a game in the series and will play the rubber game on Wednesday night. The Yankees record improved to 16-10 and the Astros record dropped to 8-19.