The first rule of baseball mindset is: “Concern yourself with what you can control and forget the results.”
Hopefully, the Astros can forget this game —and this series — and move on.
In terms of what can be controlled, contact, the Astros outhit the Yankees in every game of this series according to the Statcast statistic, xBA, even the 7-1 loss Saturday. The xBA for the Astros of the four games averaged was .308. For the Yankees, it was only .224.
But especially forget today’s ninth inning. Down 4-3, the Astros didn’t go down easily. Singles by Jeremy Pena and pinch hitter Victor Caratini to lead off against closer Clay Holmes put runners on first and second with no outs.