HOUSTON — The Yankees are not going to go 162-0.
But Juan Soto hasn’t let them lose yet.
Soto delivered yet again, this time with two outs in the ninth inning Sunday, battling Josh Hader for an opposite-field single that scored the go-ahead run and lifted the Yankees to a 4-3 win over the Astros, finishing off a four-game sweep at Minute Maid Park.
“I always want to be up in that situation,” Soto said after driving in Gleyber Torres from second as the winning run. “That’s what we play for. We all know there’s going to be times that you fail and sometimes you’re going to have success. But I always want to be up there.”
Soto’s third hit of the day capped off his superb first series as a Yankee in which he went 9-for-17 with three walks, four RBIs and some strong defense in right field.
He threw out a runner at the plate to save the game in the ninth inning Thursday, walked to force in the go-ahead run in the seventh inning Friday, hit the go-ahead home run in the seventh inning of Saturday’s win and then provided the game-winning hit again on Sunday.
“Dawg. Just put it like that, he’s a dawg, bro,” Alex Verdugo said. ��I can’t say nothing else. We’re dawgs out here.”
The Astros threatened in the bottom of the ninth against Clay Holmes, hitting back-to-back singles to lead off the inning and later getting the tying run to third base with two outs.
But third baseman Jon Berti and Verdugo in left field saved the day with some terrific defense.
Berti dove to his right to stop a Jose Altuve grounder and step on third for the first out of the inning.
Two batters later, Verdugo made a sliding catch on Kyle Tucker’s sinking liner for the final out as the Yankees secured the sweep in style, starting off 4-0 for the first time since 2003.
“Perfect, beautiful,” Soto said of Verdugo’s catch. “He just won the game for us. That was pretty cool. Really close game, Verdugo and Berti made those nice plays. It takes everybody to win a game. That shows you right there it’s not only my hit, it’s the defense too from everybody.”
Torres had given the Yankees life in the top of the ninth, hitting a two-out single off Hader and then getting a huge jump to steal second on a 1-1 pitch to Soto.
He was off on the pitch again when Soto singled and he kept on chugging around third for the winning run.
Entering Sunday, opponents had a lifetime .155 batting average off Hader.
But in a difficult left-on-left matchup, Soto worked a full count and then got a 96 mph sinker up and away and went with the pitch, taking it to left field for the decisive blow against his former Padres teammate.
“I think it just put a bow on the series of what we saw in his at-bats,” manager Aaron Boone said. “Now you’re up against one of the game’s great closers and you’re in a battle. We get down to 3-2 and a situation where he’s not trying to do too much, just a great piece of hitting. With Gleyber on the move, it made it an easy score.
“Just a killer at-bat to finish off the series.”
Earlier in the game, Soto had made a nice running catch into the right-center field gap to rob Alex Bregman of extra bases and potentially save a run.
The benefactor was Clarke Schmidt, who was sharp in his season debut, even if his day ended on a sour note. He gave up three runs across 5 ¹/₃ innings, with two of those runs coming in the sixth inning as the Astros wiped out the Yankees’ 3-1 lead.
But in a series in which the Yankees used every last out to make life hell for the Astros’ pitching staff, they did it again on Sunday.
And it was no surprise that it was Soto leading the way.
“I won’t lie to you man, you feel really good [when Soto’s up],” Verdugo said. “He’s one of those guys that he’s just special, man. It doesn’t matter, lefty or righty, the way he controls the zone, knows himself and doesn’t let the moment get too big in any moment at all, it’s very impressive. I’m happy that he’s on our team.”
