Astros battle past Yankees in back-and-forth affair

Yainer Diaz homered twice, Yordan Alvarez hit a tiebreaking RBI triple with two outs in the eighth inning Tuesday night and the visiting Houston Astros outlasted the New York Yankees for a 9-7 victory.

Houston won for just the sixth time in its past 15 games by scoring three runs off Brent Headrick (7-3) in the eighth.

Diaz started the rally by lifting Headrick's fastball into the right field seats for a 6-6 tie with one out. After a single by Jeremy Pena, Alvarez roped a first-pitch slider to the warning track in right-center field.

After getting his seventh career triple, Alvarez scored what became the game-winning run on a single by Issac Paredes.

Spencer Jones doubled and Jazz Chisholm Jr. singled him home to kick off the bottom of the eighth for the Yankees and make it 8-7, but Bryan Abreu (5-3) got Austin Wells to ground into a double play. Two batters later, Josh Hader struck out Trent Grisham. Hader easily notched the final four outs for his 19th save in 19 chances.

Diaz also hit a solo shot in the second inning before adding his third RBI of the night on a ninth-inning single. Houston finished with 14 hits and scored six runs off New York's relievers.

Pena homered and Daulton Varsho had a pair of RBI singles for the Astros, who tied the contest three times before taking the lead against Headrick.

The Astros needed their rally in the eighth after New York's Luis Garcia Jr. hit an RBI double in the seventh off Steven Okert.

Garcia had his third four-hit game this season and eighth of his career. He singled in his first two at-bats before hitting a two-run homer off Houston rookie starter Ethan Pecko to give the Yankees a 5-3 lead in the fifth.

Cody Bellinger hit a three-run homer that broke a 32-game drought in the third after the Astros scored the first two runs of the contest.

Pecko allowed five runs on five hits in 4 1/3 innings.

New York starter Will Warren allowed three runs (two earned) on seven hits in five innings, but the Yankees took their second loss in eight games and remained 3 1/2 games behind Tampa Bay in the AL East.

--Field Level Media