JUST IN: According to ESPN report this evening that the New York Yankees have officially released fan-favorite Pitcher, after he formally signed to a $240 million, five-year contract with the Houston Astros, However….

Yankees’ Marcus Stroman calls out major culprit in series finale trade to Astros was successful and Interesting

The New York Yankees lost to the Houston Astros on Thursday by a score of 4-3. Despite Aaron Judge’s viral moonshot home run, a three-run top of the first by the Astros proved to be too much for New York to overcome.

Marcus Stroman, the pitcher of record, went 5.2 innings while giving up four runs on nine hits with a pair of walks. After the game, Stroman had nobody but himself to blame for the loss, per Gary Phillips of the New York Daily News.

“Definitely a lot of adversity in there. I wasn’t good enough early on, just kind of put our team in a little bit of a hole. Just gotta be better. Can’t let up three in the first. Just feel like I don’t give my team a chance when I do that.”

Stroman’s start to his Yankees run has been up and down. Prior to this start, he went 5.1 innings giving up just one run and three hits against the Detroit Tigers. In that start, he ran into trouble but was able to avoid giving up a big number, in which Aaron Boone said that “there never was that backbreaking blow.”

This time, there was. Yordan Alvarez homered, and Jon Singleton had a two-run homer, both coming in the first inning. Ultimately, that was the difference in a close game.

Yankees lose out on sweep in series vs. Astros

The Yankees had taken the previous two games, winning 10-3 on Tuesday and 9-4 on Wednesday. So unfortunately, the bid to sweep the Astros failed with Stroman’s outing coming up short.

After the game, Aaron Judge spoke on the loss, per Phillips: “It didn’t happen for us today, but it came down to the wire.”

Ronel Blanco got his fourth win for the Astros this season, throwing 5.2 innings and giving up just two runs on four hits in a solid effort all around. Josh Hader came in for the ninth and shut the door on the game despite an early walk to Gleyber Torres and Anthony Volpe giving him a run for his money with a long at-bat.

All in all, the Yankees failed to sweep the Astros. Stroman now goes to 2-2 on the year with a 3.80 ERA, and the Yankees will move on to start a three-game series with the Tampa Bay Rays on the road before three games against the Minnesota Twins, also on the road.

Hopefully, Stroman can bounce back and get back in the win column.