Carlos Beltran hit a game-ending sacrifice fly after Oliver Perez walked the bases loaded, and the New York Yankees beat the Houston Astros 1-0 Monday night in a game highlighted by a tense duel between Nathan Eovaldi and Scott Feldman.
Perez (0-1) entered in the ninth and gave New York fans a reminder of his wild five seasons with the Mets. He walked Brett Gardner, threw a wild pitch, then walked Alex Rodriguez intentionally. Brian McCann walked to load them and end Perez's night.
Beltran then gave Chad Qualls' first pitch a ride to deep center field for New York's third walk-off win this year.
Andrew Miller (2-2) pitched the ninth in helping the Yankees hand the AL West leaders their 18th road loss in their last 22 away games. The Astros were coming off a sweep of the Los Angeles Dodgers at Minute Maid Park.
Each team had its chances, with the McCann getting thrown out at home plate by center fielder Carlos Gomez to end the seventh.
But Eovaldi, the hard-throwing right-hander from Houston, and Feldman were able to bear down over eight innings in outings that matched a season high for Eovaldi and was a tops for Feldman.
Feldman pitched eight innings for the first time since Sept. 18, 2014. He allowed six hits and struck out six without a walk.
Local
Eovaldi yielded just four hits and struck out seven with a fastball that reached 101 mph. He walked three over eight innings.
The Astros failed to capitalize in the sixth after Carlos Correa singled leading off, Colby Rasmus walked and Gomez sacrificed the runners over. Correa held at third on Evan Gattis' grounder to first base while Rasmus broke for third, and Rasmus was thrown out trying to return to second. Luis Valbuena then flied out to center.
In the bottom of the third, Feldman struck out Gardner and got Rodriguez to fly out with two on.
That was the Yankees' best chance until the seventh, when McCann led off with a single and Beltran hit a sharp line drive off the wall in right field to put men at first and third with none out.
Greg Bird struck out, then Chase Headley hit a fly to center. McCann tried to tag and score, but Gomez made a strong throw that reached catcher Hank Conger on three skips. Conger caught the relay as he was falling to his knees and reached in front to tag a sliding McCann for the double play. Conger pumped his fist and shouted as he sat near home plate.
TRAINER'S ROOM
Astros: OF George Springer (broken right wrist) took early batting practice, his first BP since getting hurt July 2. "It was good to see him on the field," manager A.J. Hinch said. "I joked with him he looked like a real player again." Springer will hit again Tuesday and probably on Wednesday before deciding on how soon he plays rehab games. ... Hinch said Jed Lowrie's hand is fine, and that the infielder was due an off-day Monday.
Yankees: 1B Mark Teixeira (bruised right shin) was out for his seventh straight game. He's starting to feel better, though, in all aspects except running. "The running is still a little bit of a struggle," he said. Both he and manager Joe Girardi feel he'll be back in the lineup by Friday. ... LHP CC Sabathia was put on the 15-day DL with right knee inflammation. There's no timetable for his return. "Is it possible he doesn't pitch the rest of the year? I think it's a possibility," Girardi said.
UP NEXT
Astros: LHP Dallas Keuchel (14-6) might be the best-suited pitcher in baseball for homer-friendly Yankee Stadium. He leads the majors with a groundball-to-flyball ratio of 4.53. He shut out New York in Houston on June 25.
Yankees: Ivan Nova (5-5) is coming off a loss to Cleveland in which he allowed three runs and six hits in a season low-tying five innings. He's only faced the Astros once, in his first start last season. Three starts later, the right-hander's year was over due to Tommy John surgery.
