Astros get back-to-back bunt hits off Jordan Montgomery to start first inning

HOUSTON — It was an odd start, to say the least, for Jordan Montgomery.

The Yankees lefthander was his usual consistent self Thursday afternoon in the Yankees’ 3-2 loss to the Astros in the first game of a doubleheader at Minute Maid Park.

Montgomery allowed two runs over 6 1/3 innings, making it 14 of 19 starts this season in which the pitcher allowed two earned runs or fewer.

And it was the very beginning part of the outing that was most memorable. That was when leadoff man Jose Altuve bunted for a hit. The next batter, Jeremy Pena, did the same thing.

“Doesn’t happen often,” Montgomery said with a shrug, “but it did.”

Altuve successfully bunted to the first-base side of the mound and Pena followed by pushing one to the third-base side. Altuve would come in later in the inning on Alex Bregman’s one-out RBI single that made it 1-0.

“I actually [thought] Jordan, on the first one, did a pretty good job,” Aaron Boone said. “I mean, perfectly executed bunts are tough to defend. With Altuve’s speed, when he laid it where he did, you’re not going to do anything there. And then Pena, we were playing back at double play depth, so he took it because he saw it. They executed pretty well there.”

No-man’s land

The Yankees saw their best chance at a rally in the first game snuffed out in third inning when, with the bases loaded and none out, Matt Carpenter hit a line drive but right at Astros first baseman Yuli Gurriel. Aaron Judge, who walked to load the bases for Carpenter, took a lean toward second at contact and was easily doubled off by Gurriel, and Gleyber Torres flied out to put a sudden end to the inning.

“That’s as tough a one as you’re going to get, and that’s probably more often than not, unfortunately, going to be the result,” Boone said of Judge, who did not have an overly big lead, being able to do anything differently to avoid the double play. “You have to react perfectly.”

Marinaccio’s return imminent

Boone said righty reliever Ron Marinaccio, on the IL since July 3 with right shoulder inflammation, will make a rehab appearance with Double-A Somerset Friday and, should that go well, “could be in play this weekend” as an active player for the Orioles series at Camden Yards.

Easing back in

Yankees position All-Stars such as Judge and Giancarlo Stanton didn’t receive much rest at the break, something Boone took into consideration with his lineups Thursday. It was among the reasons Judge was the DH both games and Stanton sat the first game before starting in left in the second. (Stanton pinch hit in the ninth inning in Game 1.)

Also factoring in, Boone said, is the fact the Yankees, who start a three-game series Friday night in Baltimore, won’t get to their hotel there until likely 4-5 a.m.