Yankees 2, Astros 5: Michael Pineda's good effort not enough to beat Houston

And so, seemingly, ends the Yankees' hopes of making the playoffs in Derek Jeter's final season.

Coming off of a disappointing loss to the Houston Astros on Tuesday, the Yankees picked up right where they left off, dropping a second straight the Astros on Wednesday, falling 5-2 for the seventh loss in their last nine games.

Houston took a 1-0 lead against Michael Pineda and the Yankees in the 4th inning when Dexter Fowler hit a two-out triple that scored Robbie Grossman, who singled to open the inning. The Yankees, though, answered right back with a run of their own, getting a solo homerun from Stephen Drew that tied the game at 1-1.

The Yankees gave Pineda a lead to work with an inning later, thanks to some small ball. Ichiro Suzuki led off the inning with a single, stole second base, then moved to third on a groundout by Jeter. Then Jacoby Ellsbury dropped down a suicide squeeze to score Ichiro from third, putting the Yankees up 2-1.

Making his second start off of the DL, Pineda went into the 7th inning pitching very well, keeping his pitch count low throughout the night. Joe Girardi pulled him with one out in the 7th, and finished with two runs on four hits with a walk and three strikeouts.

I've missed watching him pitch, and any chance the Yankees have left of making a playoffs, he'll be a big part of it.

It all went downhill for the Yankees after Pineda was taken out of the game. David Huff struck out the first batter he faced, then gave up a single to put runners on 1st and 2nd with one out. In came Esmil Rogers, who gave up singles to the next four hitters, scoring four runs that put the Astros up 5-2.

Scott Feldman started for the Astros; he wasn't great, but neither were the Yankees and that's all that mattered. Feldman went 6 2/3, giving up just two runs on eight hits, walking two and striking out seven.

The Yankees tried to rally in the 9th, putting a pair of runners on with two down, but Ellsbury flew out to the warning track to end the game.

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