Devin Williams, Aaron Boone ejected in Yankees' meltdown loss to Astros

The Yankees blew a three-run lead and had a disastrous eighth inning, losing to the Houston Astros, 8-7, on Wednesday night at Daikin Park.

Here are the takeaways…

— After the Yankees hit three homers in Tuesday's win, Giancarlo Stanton kept it going with a monster solo home run over the train tracks in left field as NY took a 1-0 lead in the second inning. Austin Wells hit the Yanks' fifth homer of the series in the fourth inning, launching a two-run blast off Jason Alexander over the left field wall to make it a 3-0 game.

— Will Warren avoided early trouble after Yordan Alvarez singled with one out, getting Jose Altuve to pop out and striking out Carlos Correa on a high fastball. He kept it going with back-to-back 1-2-3 innings in the second and third, including two more strikeouts.

Warren's streak was snapped by Alvarez to lead off the fourth with another line drive single, but once again found his way out of it. The righty got Altuve to ground into a 5-4-3 double play and then struck out Correa for a second time. Warren gave up a one-out double to Yainer Diaz and a single to Victor Caratini in the fifth, with both hits coming on the Astros' first two first-pitch swings of the game. Houston kept the trend going as Ramón Urías swung on the first pitch for a sac-fly, cutting NY's lead to 3-1.

Warren stayed in to pitch the sixth, but only threw one pitch, delivering a fastball over the middle to Jeremy Peña for a solo home run. He exited after 67 pitches with the team up 4-2. Overall, Warren allowed two runs on five hits with four strikeouts across five-plus innings.

— Ben Rice led off the sixth with a single and Wells stayed hot with a double off the wall, giving the Yankees a big scoring opportunity with no outs. Anthony Volpe struck out for a third time, but Ryan McMahon drove in Rice on a sacrifice fly, pushing the lead to 4-1. That's all New York would get as Trent Grisham struck out to end the frame.

— The Yankees bullpen couldn't hold onto the lead as Fernando Cruz gave up a double to Alvarez on his second pitch in the sixth, threw a wild pitch, and Altuve made it a 4-3 game with a groundout. Luke Weaver had a chance to escape the seventh after allowing a leadoff single, but he walked Peña with two outs and let up a game-tying single to Alvarez. 

Devin Williams surrendered a leadoff double to Correa in the eighth and then found himself in a bases-loaded jam with one out. The righty walked his third straight batter as the Astros took a 5-4 lead. He and Aaron Boone were then ejected for arguing with home plate umpire Brian Walsh as some calls appeared to be a bit off. Things got out of control as Camilo Doval let up an RBI single to Peña and balked, making it a 7-4 game. The righty then threw a wild pitch to allow another run to cross the plate before getting Alvarez out for the only time all night.

— Down to his last strike, Cody Bellinger made it an 8-7 game with a three-run HR off Bryan Abreu in the top of the ninth inning. Jazz Chisholm Jr. couldn't keep the rally alive, striking out looking on a pitch a bit outside. He, too, voiced his frustration with Walsh as Houston celebrated the victory.

Game MVP: Yordan Alvarez

Playing in just his eighth game since May 2, the slugger looked like his old self, going 4-for-5 with an RBI. It's his first four-hit (and three-hit) game of the season.

Highlights

What's next

The Yankees and Astros wrap up their three-game series on Thursday night. First pitch is set for 7:40 p.m.

Carlos Rodón (15-7, 3.18 ERA) will take the mound against Cristian Javier (1-1, 3.38 ERA).

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