(SportsRadio 610) -- Astros third baseman Alex Bregman admits he made a mistake on the barehanded throw to first base that he misfired Tuesday night at Yankee Stadium.
When Yankees third baseman D.J. LeMahieu hit a soft dribbler down the line, with two out and the bases loaded, Bregman made an aggressive attempt to get out of the inning.
It did not go as planned. The ball wasn't really close for first baseman Yuli Gurriel.
The error cleared the bases to give New York a commanding 6-3 lead. And to add insult, catcher Martin Maldonado was injured by the end of it.
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“At the time I did, because I caught it cleanly," Bregman said after the game when asked if he thought the throw could make it to first base. "I was just trying to make an aggressive play and it didn't work out. I'm going to practice those plays a lot in the coming weeks in practice, barehanding the ball and making an accurate throw. ...
"Looking back now, I probably should have ate it."
Bregman conceded LeMahieu would have beaten the ball even if it made to Gurriel.
This is consecutive games with questionable throwing decisions from Bregman, who is usually exceptional at third.
Bregman also set the tone for Houston, hammering a fastball for a solo home run and the Astros' first run of the game.
It was the second pitch of the at-bat after Bregman took a curveball out of the zone.
The Yankees, though, took a 3-1 lead in the bottom half of the first. Giancarlo Stanton hit a two-run homer, and Aaron Judge scored later in the inning on a double play with the bases loaded and no one out.
Michael Brantley led off the fourth inning with a solo shot. Then Gurriel scored Yordan Alvarez on an RBI-double that almost got out of the ballpark to put Houston ahead of New York.
But it would not have been enough to make up for the sixth inning.
Manager Dusty Baker did not fault Bregman for trying to make a play in that moment.
"I'm not going to say he shouldn't have thrown it," Baker said. "He thought he could get (LeMahieu) out."
The Astros lost 7-3 with Zack Greinke starting; Brandon Bielak, Bryan Abreu, Andre Scrubb and Joe Smith in relief.
Lance McCullers Jr. will start Wednesday night against the Yankees.