It was a great Opening Day for the New York Yankees as they erased a four-run deficit and topped the Houston Astros, 5-4, on Thursday evening at Minute Maid Park.
Nestor Cortes took the ball in place of the injured Gerrit Cole and struggled through the first two innings, allowing four runs and putting the Yankees in a 4-0 hole. However, he settled in and tossed three straight scoreless frames to keep New York in the game, and finally, the offense got going.
Juan Soto started the scoring with an RBI single in the fifth inning, his first hit as a Yankee. Then, Anthony Rizzo was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded, and Anthony Volpe drew a bases-loaded walk to cut the deficit to one.
Oswaldo Cabrera, who started at third base over Jon Berti, cranked a game-tying solo home run into the right field seats in the sixth inning.
Alex Verdugo then put the Yankees on top in the seventh inning with a sacrifice fly, scoring Aaron Judge.
After Jonathan Loáisiga (2.0 IP) and Ian Hamilton (1.0 IP) recorded scoreless appearances, Clay Holmes was able to close it out, helped by Soto, who threw out a runner at the plate to keep the Yankees in front.
New York is now 6-1 under manager Aaron Boone on Opening Day.
The Yankees will continue this four-game series on Friday at 8:10 p.m. when they hand the ball to Carlos Rodón, who is looking to bounce back in a big way.
Kyle leads sports coverage and hosts the Concrete Jungle podcast. Have a lead or question? Send it to [email protected].