The Yankees’ rotation problem spilled into a bullpen problem, which translated into a problematic loss.
Carlos Rodon was smacked around before sustaining a hamstring injury that knocked him out early. Manager Aaron Boone then had to ask for too much from his bullpen, which faltered in a 9-7 loss that finished a disappointing series split with the Astros in front of a sellout crowd of 46,345 in The Bronx on Sunday.
The Yankees (58-54) have won none of their past four series and fell 4 ½ games back of an AL wild-card spot before traveling to face the White Sox.
A day after Nestor Cortes took a step forward, Rodon took a step (and maybe a leap) back.
The lefty allowed five runs in 2 ²/₃ innings before throwing his 58th pitch of the afternoon, a ball to Houston’s Chas McCormick.
He finished his delivery appearing uncomfortable, and Boone and a trainer huddled by the mound with Rodon.
The struggling first-year Yankee stretched out his left leg, took a few warm-up pitches but couldn’t continue, waking off the mound to some boos.
There was no immediate update from the club apart from Rodon will continue to be evaluated.
The 30-year-old, who signed a $162 million, six-year deal, missed the first three months of the year with a left forearm strain and back issues.
He returned in early July and has been hit hard, leaving Sunday’s game with a 7.33 ERA in six starts. With Domingo German (who left the team to seek treatment for alcohol abuse) gone and Luis Severino (7.74 ERA) possibly on the outs, the Yankees’ rotation is paper thin.
Rodon exited in a four-run hole that the Yankees escaped.
They pieced together a string of strong at-bats, if not strong contact, that forced the Astros to throw 51 pitches in a four-run fourth inning.
The Yankees entered the frame down 5-1 and used a bases-loaded single (from Harrison Bader), hit by pitch (from Anthony Volpe), walk (from Jake Bauers) and walk (from Aaron Judge) to tie the game.
But after Cortes, who was rushed up following German’s exit, pitched just four innings Saturday, the Yankees were forced to rely too much upon an overworked bullpen.
Jhony Brito recorded five outs before Boone turned to Wandy Peralta, whose effectiveness waned as he went deeper.
In the lefty’s second inning of work, he allowed a three-run homer to Jake Meyers, who also homered off Rodon and finished with a career-high six RBIs.
Martin Maldonado followed with a solo homer, and the Yankees could not come all the way back a second time.
The Yankees mounted threats but too often could not find the big hit. In the sixth inning, Giancarlo Stanton’s flyout was too shallow before DJ LeMahieu struck out, stranding runners on second and third.
In the seventh, Bauers struck out with a pair of runners on base.
Bader’s bases-loaded single scored one in the eighth, but Volpe’s flyout ended the threat.
In the ninth, Billy McKinney and Gleyber Torres walked, but Stanton’s bid for a game-winning home run died in dead center.
The Yankees wasted eight hits, including Torres’ 18th homer of the season, and 12 walks from the Astros. Boone’s club stranded 15 runners on base, though the offense had another encouraging day.
The Yankees lost just their sixth game (out of 37) when scoring at least six runs, largely because of the hole Rodon created.
Rodon allowed two walks and three hits — two of which were home runs — before leaving another disappointing outing.
He has given up eight home runs in 27 innings, including a second-inning, three-run shot from Meyers and a third-inning, two-run shot from Yordan Alvarez on Sunday.
The Yankees signed him to beat the Astros in October. Rodon could not do it in August.
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