HOUSTON — The Yankees aren’t going to go 162-0.
But Juan Soto hasn’t let them lose yet.
With two outs in the ninth inning on Sunday, Soto hit again, taking a reverse single to Josh Hader and scoring the go-ahead run, leading the Yankees to a 4-3 victory over the Astros and ending their four-game winning streak. At Minute Maid Park.
Soto’s third hit of the day capped off a great first series for the Yankees, with nine hits for 17 at bats, three walks and four RBIs.
He hit the game-winning home run in the seventh inning of Saturday’s victory and added more heroics on Sunday.
The Astros threatened in the bottom of the ninth inning against Clay Holmes, hitting back-to-back singles to lead off the inning and then getting a tying single to third base with two outs.
However, Alex Verdugo made a sliding catch in left field for the final out, saving the day, and the Yankees successfully secured the sweep.
Gleyber Torres gave life to the Yankees with a double off Hader in the top of the 9th inning, followed by a big jumper to steal second. When Soto singled into the left-field seats, he re-entered the field and continued to race around third base toward the winning run.
Clark Schmidt was sharp for the most part in his season debut, but he gave up three runs in five innings, two of which came in the sixth, and it ended badly.
Doubles by Jose Altuve and Kyle Tucker brought the Astros within 3-2 and after Schmidt was removed from the game, Yainar Diaz singled off Jonathan Loaisiga and Tucker scored.
Loaisiga ended up with the bases loaded, but was able to save the day.
Then, in the seventh inning, Loaisiga walked Altuve with one out, allowing Caleb Ferguson to escape.
Altuve advanced to third base on a wild pitch and error, but Ferguson struck out Yordan Alvarez and then grounded out Alex Bregman to end the inning.
For the first time in this series, the Yankees took the lead on Sunday. Giancarlo Stanton took the lead in the second inning with a double smoke to left field, then drove Verdugo to third base on a deep fly ball to center field.
With two outs, Jose Trevino hit a well-placed ball into the shallow right field, but it became a single and Stanton scored, giving him a 1-0 lead.
Altuve tied the game in the third inning, taking advantage of a 1-2 sweeper left in the middle of the plate by Schmidt and hitting a solo home run into the Crawford box in the left field seats.
It could have been a two-run shot, unless Trevino caught Jeremy Pena stealing second early in the inning.
However, the Yankees responded immediately and regained the lead in the top of the fourth inning.
Anthony Rizzo led off with a double, and after two outs, John Berti, who joined the lineup late because Anthony Volpe was in the batting lineup with abdominal pain, singled into the right field seats to make it 2-1.
Soto continued his strong defense in the bottom of the fourth, making a running grab into the gap in right-center field to steal the extra base from Bregman and potentially prevent him from scoring.
The Yankees extended their lead with an extra run in the top of the fifth inning.
Oswaldo Cabrera led off with a walk, followed by two batters, then Soto singled to left, putting the runners on the corners. Aaron Judge then went ahead with a sacrifice fly to center field to make it 3-1.
