Yankees 1 - 3 Astros
Final
  for this game

Fowler helps Astros beat Yankees

Apr 3, 2014 - 6:41 AM Houston, TX (SportsNetwork.com) - Hiroki Kuroda's shutout streak against Houston ended on his second pitch of the game.

Dexter Fowler smacked a leadoff homer, a triple and scored twice as the Astros held off the New York Yankees, 3-1, in the middle test of a season-opening three-game set.

Kuroda was 4-0 with a 1.39 ERA in eight career starts against Houston and had carried a 22-inning shutout streak coming in before Fowler knocked a belt-high pitch into the Astros bullpen.

He struck again in the third when he cracked a one-out triple onto Tal's Hill in right-center and scored on Mark Teixeira's fielding error to make it 2-0.

Matt Albers worked a scoreless eighth after giving up a leadoff double to Carlos Beltran and Josh Fields pitched a 1-2-3 ninth to notch his first save of the season and send the Yankees to their third straight 0-2 start.

Matt Dominguez also hit a solo homer for Houston, which won Monday's opener 6-2. Jarred Cosart (1-0) allowed four hits over five scoreless frames to pick up the win.

"If we keep playing together like this and keep finding ways to win games, who knows what can happen," Cosart said.

Kuroda (0-1) yielded two runs on three hits and a walk over six innings for New York. Brian Roberts went 3-for-4 in defeat.

"We haven't been able to put anything together, but this team has what it takes to play better and win ball games," Beltran said.

After leaving a runner in scoring position in the fifth and sixth innings, the Yankees finally pushed a runner across in the seventh. Brett Gardner worked a leadoff walk against Kevin Chapman and scampered to third on a Roberts base hit. He scored when pinch-hitter Yangervis Solarte grounded into a double play.

Dominguez got the run back for Houston in the bottom half when he lifted a two-out, opposite-field solo shot into the seats in right to extend the margin to 3-1.

Game Notes

Houston was 0-for-5 with runners in scoring position, while New York finished 0-for-10 ... Fowler's leadoff homer was Houston's first since last Sep. 10 when Jonathan Villar hit one against Joe Saunders in Seattle.






Related News