Major League Baseball
Houston 8, NY Yankees 7
When: 2:10 PM ET, Sunday, July 11, 2021
Where: Minute Maid Park, Houston, Texas
Temperature: Indoors
Umpires: Home - John Bacon, 1B - Tom Hallion, 2B - Mark Ripperger, 3B - Cory Blaser
Attendance: 37928

Jose Altuve crushed a walk-off three-run home run and the Houston Astros scored six runs in the ninth inning to complete a stunning 8-7 victory over the visiting New York Yankees on Sunday.

Altuve drove home Abraham Toro and pinch-runner Myles Straw with his 20th home run, capping an unexpected comeback that started against Yankees right-hander Domingo German and ended with right-hander Chad Green (3-5) allowing the decisive blast.

Houston trailed 7-2 before Chas McCormick started the scoring with a two-run double off German that scored Yuli Gurriel and Kyle Tucker. Toro followed with an RBI double, and one out later, Altuve hit his stunning blast over the wall in left.

Yankees catcher Gary Sanchez appeared to break open a close game with his 15th homer, a 370-foot shot to left field off Astros reliever Blake Taylor that extended the lead to 7-2 in the eighth. Taylor walked DJ LeMahieu and Aaron Judge in succession before leaving an 0-2 fastball over the heart of the plate to Sanchez.

Free passes proved costly for Astros pitching. Sanchez walked and scored in the third when Gleyber Torres reached on a fielding error by Astros shortstop Robel Garcia. Torres earned a two-out walk in the seventh, stole second base and scored when Gio Urshela single off Bryan Abreu. Three more Yankees walked in the eighth following the Sanchez homer.

Houston pitchers issued a club-record 14 walks. The starter, left-hander Framber Valdez, walked a season-high six batters over four-plus innings, including Luke Voit in the fifth to push Giancarlo Stanton into scoring position ahead of Torres' RBI single that lifted the Yankees to a 3-1 lead.

Taylor walked four batters while allowing three runs, one hit and recording one out in the eighth. Ralph Garza Jr. (1-2) pitched 1 2/3 hitless innings, with three walks and three strikeouts.

Tim Locastro smacked his second home run of the season leading off the fourth against Valdez.

Yankees right-hander Jameson Taillon, a product of The Woodlands High School north of Houston, allowed two homers and walked two while striking out four over six innings. Martin Maldonado and Tucker both homered to right, with Maldonado socking his sixth home run leading off the third to knot the score at 1-1. Tucker mashed his 15th homer to slice the deficit to 3-2 with two outs in the sixth.

--Field Level Media

Top Game Performances
Starting Pitchers
NY Yankees   Houston
Jameson Taillon Player Framber Valdez
No Decision W/L No Decision
6.0 IP 4.0
4 Strikeouts 5
3 Hits 6
3.00 ERA 4.50
Hitting
NY Yankees   Houston
Giancarlo Stanton Player Kyle Tucker
2 Hits 2
0 RBI 1
0 HR 1
2 TB 6
.500 Avg .667
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Hits HR TB Avg LOB K RBI BB SB Errors
NY Yankees 8 2 14 .235 28 12 6 14 1 0
Houston 10 3 22 .294 10 6 8 2 3 1