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Try it freeHOUSTON — Coming into Wednesday, the Yankees had won eight straight games at the stadium formerly known as Minute Maid Park.
But no amount of regular-season success can quite erase the October heartbreak the Yankees have experienced here over the past decade.
And they took a page out of that playbook on Wednesday, despite it still only being September, in a late bullpen meltdown.
Devin Williams entered a tie game in the bottom of the eighth and lit fire to it, walking in the go-ahead run before Camilo Doval relieved him and poured gasoline on what became an 8-7 loss to the Astros at Daikin Park.
Williams left in a 5-4 game before Doval allowed all three inherited runners to score, which proved to be brutal when Cody Bellinger swatted a three-run homer in the top of the ninth to pull the Yankees within a run.
But their late comeback attempt ended when Jazz Chisholm Jr. struck out looking at a pitch on the outside edge, which only caused more frustration on a night full of it for the Yankees.
The ugly eighth inning included both Williams (as he walked off the mound after being pulled) and Aaron Boone getting ejected before Doval balked in a run and allowed another on a wild pitch.
Losing a game they once led 4-1 in the sixth inning, the Yankees dropped to 3 ¹/₂ games back of the Blue Jays for first place in the AL East while remaining in a virtual tie with the Red Sox for the top AL wild card.
After Fernando Cruz and Luke Weaver had each given up a run in the sixth and seventh inning, respectively, to erase a 4-2 lead, Boone called on Williams for the eighth.
Carlos Correa, who had struck out in each of his first three at-bats, led off by lining a double into the right field corner. Williams followed by walking Jesús Sánchez before striking out Yainer Diaz in a nine-pitch battle.
Williams then walked Christian Walker on a full count to load the bases, but again came back to strike out Ramón Urías, only to walk No. 9 hitter Taylor Trammell on five pitches to put the Astros up 5-4.
There were a few close pitches called balls across Williams’ three walks — two to Sánchez and another against Trammell — and he let his anger out on home plate umpire Brian Walsh as he walked off the mound, which led to his ejection.
Boone suffered the same fate as he walked back to the dugout, then got his money’s worth arguing emphatically with Walsh.
Will Warren cruised through four innings before the Astros began to jump on him early in counts and generated some loud contact and their first run. Jeremy Peña then led off the sixth inning with a home run that pulled the Astros within 4-2, at which point Boone got aggressive and turned to his bullpen.
Cruz came in to face Yordan Alvarez, who ripped a double over Giancarlo Stanton’s head in left field and later took third on a wild pitch. Jose Altuve then drove him in on a groundout to third base — Ryan McMahon was playing back and considered throwing home before getting the sure out at first — to cut the Yankees lead to 4-3.
In the seventh, after giving up a leadoff single, Weaver retired the next two batters before walking Peña, which brought up the red-hot Alvarez, who smoked a single to left field. The Astros challenged Stanton’s arm and it worked out, as pinch runner Jacob Melton beat the throw to score from second and tie the game 4-4.
Stanton had put the Yankees ahead first when he visited the train tracks high above the left field wall in the second inning. He crushed Jason Alexander’s 3-2 changeup 403 feet for his 18th home run of the season that put the Yankees ahead 1-0 in the second inning.
As part of his three-hit night, Austin Wells extended the lead in the fourth inning with a home run of his own, this one a two-run, opposite-field shot into the Crawford Boxes to make it 3-0. It marked his third home run in his past five starts, a span in which he has gone 8-for-19 after an extended slump.
Wells later hit his second double of the night in the sixth inning, which set up Ben Rice to score on McMahon’s sacrifice fly that made it 4-1.