HOUSTON — The Yankees won’t be using Saturday’s bottom of the fifth inning in any fielding textbooks, to say the least.
A one-run Astros lead became a two-run lead on one play that involved two Yankees errors.
The Astros had runners on first and second with one out against Marcus Stroman when Yordan Alvarez hit a ground ball well off the bag at first base.
Anthony Rizzo fielded it cleanly and threw to Anthony Volpe at second base for the first out of what could have been an inning-ending double play, albeit a tough one.
Stroman had gotten over to cover first base, but Volpe’s throw there was wild, allowing Alvarez to reach safely.
At that point, Victor Caratini was rounding third and heading for home.
Stroman got the ricochet of Volpe’s throw and tried to make a quick throw home but airmailed it over the head of catcher Austin Wells.
The errant throw went into the camera well, allowing Alvarez to advance to third base.
But Stroman was able to strand him there to end the inning.
The irony was that Volpe and Stroman, who both received errors on the play, have won Gold Gloves at their respective positions.
The game itself was no defensive gem, as each team had committed an error earlier in the game that led to runs for each side.
Through the end of the fifth inning, four runs had scored, but they had all been unearned.
