HOUSTON — Carlos Beltran stood by his locker and defiantly predicted the Yankees will emerge from the deep hitting funk that has smothered them across the first two games.
“We are going to be fine,’’ Beltran proclaimed in a room where the only sound came from a high-powered fan. “We haven’t been able to put it together but we have what it takes to win ball games.’’
Wednesday night at Minute Maid Park the Yankees didn’t have what it took to beat the Astros, falling, 3-1, in front of 23,145 who witnessed the Astros putting on the first ceremony for the retiring Derek Jeter.
The Yankees went hitless in 10 at-bats with runners in scoring position and are now 2-for-18 in the clutch in the opening two tilts.
The punchless lineup couldn’t overcome a six-run ditch CC Sabathia put it in Tuesday night and Wednesday evening they wasted a solid outing from Hiroki Kuroda.
So three games into a season the Yankees are looking to avoid being swept and embarrassed Thursday night by the Astros, considered by many to be the worst team in baseball.
“It’s an important game, you want to get on that side of the column and start putting wins together,’’ Joe Girardi said of the night game in which he will send Ivan Nova against lefty Brett Oberholtzer.
Watching the Yankees’ bats slog their way through the first two games has some people recalling Reid Brignac, Ben Francisco, David Adams, Travis Hafner and Vernon Wells as the glory days.
Surely you remember that anemic hitting bunch from a year ago when the Yankees had to play them far more than they would have liked due to injury.
Looking at last years’ club led the Yankees to spend $283 million this past winter on free agents Jacoby Ellsbury, Brian McCann and Beltran. They are a combined 5-for-23 (.217) with one extra base hit — Beltran’s leadoff double in the eighth that didn’t lead to a run because Matt Albers fanned McCann, Mark Teixeira and Alfonso Soriano.
“We had opportunities late in the game and didn’t come through,’’ said Girardi, whose lineup had two on and no out in the seventh and watched pinch-hitter Yangervis Solarte bang into a 4-6-3 double play against lefty Kevin Chapman. The twin-killing scored Brett Gardner from third to cut the deficit to 2-1, but David Phelps gave up a solo homer to Matt Dominguez in the home half of the frame.
Girardi used the switch-hitting Solarte in his first major league at-bat to hit for Kelly Johnson, a left-handed hitter with a career. 275 average against lefties who Girardi let face Chapman in the seventh inning Tuesday night.
Kuroda gave up a leadoff homer to Dexter Fowler in the first and a tainted run in the third when Fowler tripled with one out and scored on Teixeira’s fielding error.
In six innings Kuroda allowed two runs, three hits walked one, fanned five and is 0-1.
“In the early innings I tried to do too much with my pitches. After that I made adjustments and got outs,’’ Kuroda said. “I think I tried to do too much pitching to the corners of the plate and that led to bad counts.’’
Astros starter Jarred Cosart and his 95 mph fastball vanished after five scoreless innings in which he allowed four singles, no walks and fanned three.
Journeyman Jerome Williams replaced Cosart and walked Jeter on four pitches. McCann’s single put runners at the corners with one out before Teixeira (0-for-4; 3Ks) whiffed and Soriano (0-for-4) grounded to third.
“There is nothing we can do about the game [Wednesday],’’ said Soriano, who is hitless in eight at-bats and has whiffed four times. “Hopefully [Thursday] we have a chance.’’
The chances were there Wednesday and the Yankees didn’t deliver. If they flush those opportunities Thursday they could head to Toronto an embarrassed bunch looking a lot more like last year’s unit than what Ellsbury, McCann and Beltran were expected to bring.