HOUSTON — The Yankees are not going to go 162-0.
But Juan Soto hasn’t let them lose yet.
Soto delivered yet again with two outs in the ninth inning Sunday, battling Josh Hader for an opposite-field single that scored the go-ahead run and lifted the Yankees to a 4-3 win over the Astros, finishing off a four-game sweep at Minute Maid Park.
Soto’s third hit of the day capped off his superb first series as a Yankee in which he went 9-for-17 with three walks and four RBIs.
He hit the go-ahead home run in the seventh inning of Saturday’s win and then added more heroics on Sunday.
The Astros threatened in the bottom of the ninth against Clay Holmes, hitting back-to-back singles to lead off the inning and later getting the tying run to third base with two outs.
But Alex Verdugo saved the day with a sliding catch in left field for the final out as the Yankees secured the sweep in style.
Gleyber Torres had given the Yankees life in the top of the ninth, hitting a two-out single off Hader and then getting a huge jump to steal second. He was off on the pitch again when Soto singled to left field and kept on chugging around third for the winning run.
Clarke Schmidt was mostly sharp in his season debut but it ended on a sour note, as two of the three runs he allowed across five innings came in the sixth.
Jose Altuve and Kyle Tucker doubled off him to pull the Astros within 3-2 and knock Schmidt out of the game before Tucker came around to score when Yainer Diaz singled off Jonathan Loaisiga.
Loaisiga ended up loading the bases but escaped the jam.
Then in the seventh, Loaisiga walked Altuve with one out, leaving Caleb Ferguson to try to get out of it.
Altuve got to third on a wild pitch and error, but Ferguson struck out Yordan Alvarez and then got Alex Bregman to ground out to end the inning.
For the first time this series, the Yankees scored first on Sunday. Giancarlo Stanton led off the second inning with a double smoked to left field, then tagged up to third on a deep fly ball to center by Verdugo.
With two outs, Jose Trevino poked a well-placed bloop into shallow right field that fell for a single to score Stanton for the 1-0 lead.
Altuve tied it up in the third inning, taking advantage of a 1-2 sweeper that Schmidt left over the middle of the plate and hitting it into the Crawford Boxes in left field for the solo home run.
It could have been a two-run shot, except Trevino caught Jeremy Peña stealing second earlier in the inning.
But the Yankees had an immediate response to regain the lead in the top of the fourth.
Anthony Rizzo led off with a double and two outs later, scored when Jon Berti — a late addition to the lineup after Anthony Volpe was scratched with an upset stomach — lofted a single to right field to make it 2-1.
Soto continued to flash some strong defense in the bottom of the fourth, making a running grab into the right-center field gap to rob Bregman of extra bases and potentially keep a run from scoring.
The Yankees added to their lead in the top of the fifth by manufacturing another run.
Oswaldo Cabrera led off with a walk and two batters later, Soto roped a single through the left side to put runners on the corners. Aaron Judge then cashed in with a sacrifice fly to center to make it 3-1.
