If the present-day Yankees sought inspiration, they needed to look no further than Saturday afternoon’s Old-Timer’s Day celebration in the Bronx.
This year’s alumni event recognized the 2000 Yankees, who lost 13 of their final 15 regular-season games, only to surge to a World Series championship over the crosstown Mets.
That team’s manager, Joe Torre, believes this year’s Yankees are capable of a similar turnaround.
“[Aaron Boone] knows what he has here,” Torre said. “And he knows he’s gonna get a run out of these guys.”
It’s too early to tell if Saturday’s 5-4 win over the Houston Astros marked the start of that run, but it was certainly a step in the right direction.
Trent Grisham’s go-ahead solo home run in the bottom of the eighth proved to be the game-winner, bailing the Yankees out after their defense and new-look bullpen faltered in the top of the frame.
Grisham’s two-out blast against reliever Bryan King traveled 408 feet into the right-field stands and broke a 4-4 tie.
Houston had tied the game with a two-run eighth. With one out, reliever Camilo Doval had a chance to turn an inning-ending double play on a Jesús Sánchez comebacker. But Doval’s throw pulled shortstop Anthony Volpe off of second base, leaving Houston with runners on first and second with one out.
Jose Altuve followed with an RBI single. When left fielder Jasson Dominguez’s throw to home plate got past catcher Ben Rice, Sánchez moved to third base and Altuve went to second.
Doval’s afternoon ended after he walked Carlos Correa to load the bases.
David Bednar then entered, and – in his first appearance since Wednesday’s five-out, 42-pitch save in Texas — walked the first batter he faced, Christian Walker, to make it a 4-4 game.
But Bednar struck out the next two batters, then hurled a scoreless ninth.
All of that followed a strong performance by Yankees starter Luis Gil in his second appearance of the season.
Gil’s game got off to an inauspicious start when Jeremy Peña drilled a leadoff blast on the right-hander’s fourth pitch.
But the Yankees answered in the bottom of the first, scoring on Giancarlo Stanton’s bases-loaded walk and Ben Rice’s sacrifice fly against Astros ace Framber Valdez to go up, 2-1.
Saturday marked Stanton’s first time playing the outfield since 2023. With Aaron Judge relegated to designated hitter duty while he recovers from a flexor strain in his right elbow, Stanton started in right field.
Stanton nearly delivered a defensive highlight in the fourth inning, but his strong throw to the plate on Correa’s RBI single was a tick behind Sánchez, who scored from second base.
That tied the game, 2-2, but the Yankees had another rally in them.
Stanton lined a go-ahead RBI single against Valdez in the fifth inning, and the Yankees went up 4-2 when the next batter, Rice, grounded into a run-scoring double play.
Valdez, who entered with a 2.83 ERA, allowed four runs, eight hits and four walks over 5.2 innings and recorded only one strikeout.
Gil, meanwhile, held Houston to two runs over 5.1 innings, totaling seven strikeouts and a walk over 91 pitches.
It was a positive step for Gil, the reigning American League Rookie of the Year, who missed the first four months of the season with a high-grade lat strain. In his season debut last weekend, Gil struggled with his command, allowing five runs and issuing four walks in 3.1 innings against the Miami Marlins.
The Yankees will go for a series victory on Sunday afternoon.
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