Another revamped lineup fails in Yankees' Game 2 defeat

HOUSTON — For the second straight night, Aaron Boone shook up his lineup against the Astros in the ALCS, with Harrison Bader moving to leadoff and Oswald Peraza starting at shortstop.

For the second straight night, it didn’t work. The Yankees lost, 3-2, to fall into an 0-2 hole in the best-of-seven series. Game 3 is Saturday at Yankee Stadium.

The Yankees have scored four runs — two solo homers in Game 1, two unearned runs in Game 2 — and struck out 30 times. “We’ve got to score,” Boone said. “Swing and miss. The idea ain’t just to touch it. You’ve got to touch it in situations. We’ve got to score.”

In Wednesday’s 4-2 loss in the opener, Boone gave Matt Carpenter his first start of the postseason as the DH. Carpenter went 0-for-4 with four strikeouts as the Yankees struck out 17 times.

On Thursday, Carpenter got another chance against Houston closer Ryan Pressly, pinch hitting after Josh Donaldson walked with two outs in the ninth.

Carpenter, who struck out against Pressly as the potential go-ahead run in the eighth inning of Game 1, was 0-for-6 (all strikeouts) in the postseason. He made it 0-for-7, ending Game 2 with a checked-swing strikeout.

“They’ve got good arms and they’ve executed well,” he said. “But it’s not an excuse. We’ve still got to find a way if we want to win. Myself included.”

Peraza made a couple of nice defensive plays but went 0-for-3 with two strikeouts in his first postseason start.

“It’s a beautiful experience,” he said through an interpreter. “Of course, we didn’t get the result we wanted. Very thankful for the opportunity for the team to take me into consideration to be here and be part of it.”

Other changes for Game 2 against lefthander Framber Valdez: Bader, who had hit four home runs in six postseason games, was moved to leadoff. Gleyber Torres, who had been in the top spot, shifted to fifth. Oswaldo Cabrera, who did not appear in Game 1, started in left with Giancarlo Stanton at DH after playing left on Wednesday.

Bader got on base twice, with a two-out single in the fifth and a one-out walk in the eighth. Aaron Judge followed the walk with a potential go-ahead homer that was caught at the top of the rightfield wall by Kyle Tucker.

According to Statcast, there is one ballpark in which Judge’s 345-foot drive would have been a home run: Yankee Stadium.

The two runs the Yankees scored in the fourth against Valdez were unearned because of fielding and throwing errors he made on the same comebacker.

With Judge on first after a single and the Yankees trailing 3-0, Stanton hit a slow roller to Valdez, who fumbled it for an error and threw wildly to first for a second error as the runners moved to second and third.

Anthony Rizzo got one run in with a groundout to first. Torres made it 3-2 with an infield single.

From that point on, the Yankees had one hit against Valdez and two relievers. They had four hits and struck out 13 times.

Peraza, who started over the re-benched Isiah Kiner-Falefa, made an immediate defensive impact on the first batter of the bottom of the first when he robbed Jose Altuve of a hit by ranging to his left, making a sliding stop, spinning and throwing to first for the out.

Peraza also made a nifty play when he raced in to grab a slow roller hit by Chas McCormick leading off the seventh and threw him out.

In the seventh, Torres made a pretty stop of Altuve’s grounder and flipped to Peraza. He spun 360 degrees and fired in the dirt, but Anthony Rizzo made a flashy scoop to complete a 4-6-3 double play.

Peraza played in 18 regular-season games. He was not on the ALDS roster but was added for this series, made his postseason debut in the eighth inning of Game 1 as a pinch runner and stayed in at short.

By Anthony Rieber

anthony.rieber@newsday.comAnthonyRieber

Anthony Rieber covers baseball, as well as the NFL, NBA and NHL. He has worked at Newsday since Aug. 31, 1998, and has been in his current position since July 5, 2004.