“Not luck on our side” - Astros manager Joe Espada praises team’s fighting spirit after 0-4 sweep to Yankees

Joe Espada’s tenure as Houston Astros manager is off to a rough start. Getting swept by the Yankees over four games never makes for good reading, but despite the result, the Astros skipper can still take some positives away.

On Sunday afternoon, the Astros pushed the Yankees all the way until the ninth inning before falling short. Yordan Alvarez perhaps thought he had won the game after he crushed a fly ball off Clay Holmes that traveled a Statcast-projected 385 feet, only to land in the glove of Aaron Judge.

Juan Soto emerged as the Yankees’ hero, scoring the go-ahead single that turned out to be the game-winning hit. Alex Verdugo denied Kyle Tucker a game-tying hit by making a sliding catch and sealed the 4-3 win for Aaron Boone’s side.

Houston haven’t started a season 0-4 since 2011 - the year they lost 106 games. But it’s early days, and there’s still plenty of time to course-correct for Espada and Co. In a conversation with the Athletic after the game, Espada praised his side’s fighting spirit.

“Not luck on our side. Yordan hit two balls today that should have left the yard, but they didn’t. I like the fight, man. I like the fight. That’s what it’s all about. Give yourself a chance. You fight until the last out of the game and if you do that, you’re going to find yourself in a good spot to win games.”

The Astros will be hopeful of a strong bounceback during their three-game homestand vs. the Toronto Blue Jays, starting Monday.

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Astros have been disappointing in recent home games

The Astros have now lost nine straight games at Minute Maid Park - a dreadful streak that goes all the way back to Game 1 of the 2023 ALDS. But Joe Espada has full confidence in his team to turn things around. He added (via the Athletic),

"This is a resilient group. You see the fight, you see the grind. That is exactly the team I’ve seen for many, many years and they’re not going to stop fighting.”

After the Blue Jays series, seven of Houston's next 10 games will be against their arch-rivals, the defending champions Texas Rangers.