HOUSTON- The Yankees closed out their season with a 5-1, 14-inning win over the Astros Sunday.
“It’s good to end on a good note,” Joe Girardi said.
The final week of the year turned into a farewell tour to Mariano Rivera and Andy Pettitte after the team fell out of playoff contention.
Mark Reynolds gave the Yankees the lead with a one-out homer in the 14th and Eduardo Nunez added a two-run double, as the Yankees finished the season 85-77, with a three-game winning streak.
Girardi let Jayson Nix manage, but Nix gave up after nine innings.
David Huff got the start and gave up a run in the first inning and the Yankees responded with a run in the eighth in a season that ended before October.
“There’s the disappointment of not getting to where we want,” Girardi said before the game at Minute Maid Park. “The sadness of seeing two Yankee greats leave and walk away. I’m extremely happy with the way they were able to go out. The only thing better would have been the World Series.”
Instead, the Yankees missed the playoffs for the first time since 2008 and the second time in 19 years.
“There’s a lot of work to be done,” Girardi said. “And there’s a lot of things that we were able to do this year. We saw a lot of good things, saw a lot of players step up a number of times when people thought we were out of it and we seemed to find a way to come back. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to get into next week.”