Yanks hang on to sweep Astros in epic series finale

The New York Yankees completed a dramatic opening weekend sweep of the Houston Astros Sunday with help from all of their newcomers.

The fantastic finish began with a ninth-inning rally against Astros closer Josh Hader, Houston's marquee offseason acquisition. Hader tried to keep the game tied at three, but the Yankees' newest superstar, Juan Soto, had other plans. After working the count full against his former San Diego Padres teammate, Soto won the epic at-bat by flicking a single to left field, putting New York ahead 4-3.

The drama wasn't done there. Houston quickly put the tying and winning runs on base in the bottom half against Yankees closer Clay Holmes. Jose Altuve appeared to have won the game, but third baseman Jon Berti - playing in his first game as a Yankee after being acquired right before Opening Day - came to his new team's rescue by spearing his ground ball at the line and securing a force out.

Holmes then narrowly escaped the always dangerous Yordan Alvarez, who first blooped a fly ball just a few inches foul and then came a foot short of a walk-off homer. After that, a sliding Alex Verdugo corralled Kyle Tucker's sinking liner, clinching the Yankees' four-game sweep in dramatic fashion.

"Dawg. Just put it like that," Verdugo said, according to The Athletic's Chris Kirschner. "(Soto's) a dawg. We're dawgs out there."

It's the first time the Yankees have gone 4-0 to start a season since 2003, when they reached the World Series. Two of New York's four wins in Houston were by a one-run margin.

Yankees starter Clarke Schmidt, who struck out five over 5.1 innings of work, felt like the positive result in Houston served as a warning shot.

"It's just kind of like letting them know and letting everybody know that we're here," Schmidt said, per Kirschner. "We're excited about this year. We're ready to get going, and this is just the start for us."

"It's very eerily similar to how we were in 2022 when we started off on that really good start," he added. "We just felt like we weren't going to lose at the end of the games. We felt like we were always gonna come back. There's an energy and excitement in the clubhouse."

The Astros, meanwhile, were swept in a season-opening four-game series for the first time since 1978, according to Chandler Rome of the Houston Chronicle. It's also the club's first 0-4 start since dropping five straight to open the 2011 campaign, which Houston finished with 106 losses.