They had allowed three earned runs or fewer in 31 starts.
But Thursday, Stroman struggled early, touched up for three first-inning runs on a pair of long home runs to Yordan Alvarez and Jon Singleton, and was fortunate to give up just four runs over his 5 ²/₃ innings of work in a 4-3 loss to the Astros .
“Those pitches were essentially middle-middle, and they didn’t have the action on them that I wanted,” Stroman said, referring to the homers. “Look to be better next time out.
“Just can’t put us in a hole, 3-0, can’t do that.”
It ended an otherwise terrific homestand on a sour note, capping a 5-1 stretch against the Tigers and Astros.
As the Yankees sit at 25-14 through 39 games, the starting rotation has been a major bright spot.
They are fourth in innings pitched among starters and have struck out the third most, with 219 in 213 innings.
“The opportunity to win a game,” manager Aaron Boone said of what he has liked the most about his starting rotation. “I don’t recall a game where we were just out of it in the middle innings — maybe the Baltimore game a little when we were down four or five runs. But by and large — whether it’s been four innings, five innings, six innings, seven innings, eight innings, whatever a starting pitcher has given us — we’ve been in the game 99 percent of the time.
“It starts on the bump and it starts with that guy that kicks off the game for you. They set you up to give you a chance to be successful, and that’s been a common theme at the start of the season.”
It wasn’t on Thursday.
It’s not a coincidence that the Yankees lost for the first time in a week.
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