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HOUSTON -- In its first test since star closer Aroldis Chapman was traded, the New York Yankees bullpen came through just fine.Austin Romine hit a tiebreaking double in the eighth inning to make a winner of Michael Pineda, and the Yankees held off the Houston Astros 2-1 on Monday night.Hours after New York shipped Chapman to the Chicago Cubs, All-Star relievers Dellin Betances and Andrew Miller closed out Houston to help the fourth-place Yankees (51-48) move three games above .500 for the first time this season.Youre not asking a young kid to maybe step into something that hes never done before, manager Joe Girardi said. We still have a lot of experience down there; the bridge becomes very important. Obviously we didnt need it tonight, but that becomes very important.Betances struck out the side in the eighth before Miller, back in the ninth-inning role following Chapmans departure, earned his eighth save. The fired-up lefty pumped his fist when he got Carlos Gomez to ground into a game-ending double play with two on.A frustrated Gomez spiked his helmet and kicked at the ground after he was out at first base.Obviously, hes pretty good at what he does, so were going to have to find a way to fill the hole that he leaves, Miller said about Chapman. Weve got talented guys who are capable of stepping up, and its up to them to do it. I think they will.Pineda (5-9) pitched seven strong innings to beat Yankees nemesis Dallas Keuchel (6-10), last years AL Cy Young Award winner.I didnt want to make any mistakes because I knew this team is aggressive for the first pitch, Pineda said. I threw my best pitch for the first pitch.George Springer hit a leadoff homer and Luis Valbuena had three hits for Houston, which had won four straight. Top prospect Alex Bregman went 0 for 4 with two strikeouts in his major league debut.Romines double to deep center field scored Chase Headley, who singled to start the eighth.Hes done a really good job all around, Girardi said about Romine. This is a kid thats really persevered. Hes really fought to get to this spot and hes had a really good year.Headley singled in the fifth to drive in Didi Gregorius, tying it at 1.Pineda allowed five hits and struck out eight in his second straight solid outing after throwing six scoreless innings Wednesday against Baltimore.The big right-hander retired 14 of 15 during one stretch, but ran into trouble in the sixth. He loaded the bases with two outs before Bregman flied out to the right-field warning track.Springers fifth leadoff home run of the year was the 11th for the Astros this season, surpassing the previous club record of 10 set in 2001.Keuchel gave up two runs and six hits with five strikeouts in 7 2/3 innings. He has allowed two runs or fewer in four straight starts.The left-hander retired 13 of his first 14 batters. The only hit he gave up was Romines single in the third until Gregorius double in the fifth.I felt like today was the first time even through this whole stretch that I was able to command both sides of the plate, Keuchel said. Fastballs to both sides. The only thing lacking were a few sliders to Romine.BIG DEALChapman was sent to the Cubs for pitcher Adam Warren and three minor league prospects.TRAINERS ROOMAstros: INF Marwin Gonzalez sat out after spraining his left ankle in the fifth inning Sunday. Hes doing OK, manager A.J. Hinch said. We are keeping him out of some baseball activities to monitor his ankle. Well give him the day off, but I would really like him to play tomorrow if hes capable.A-ROD OPTIMISTICYankees DH Alex Rodriguez was out of the lineup for a third straight game. Rodriguez, who is 4 for 31 with one home run in July, is batting .206 this season with nine home runs and 29 RBI, but hes optimistic after speaking to the Yankees sabermetrics department. Theres no question that for the first two months, my mechanics were out of whack, Rodriguez said. I think I found something, and Im excited to put it into play.UP NEXTYankees: LHP CC Sabathia (5-8) will start his 18th game of the season Tuesday. Sabathia has allowed 31 runs -- 29 earned -- in his last 35 innings, spanning six starts.Astros: RHP Doug Fister (10-6) will make his 20th start of the season and look to follow up one of his best outings of the year when he threw seven scoreless innings Wednesday at Oakland. Wholesale Jerseys For Sale . Woodson said during a radio interview Thursday that the Knicks Carmelo Anthony doesnt get the same calls as other superstars. Wholeslae Jerseys China . Its an influence in football and a big part of the game. http://www.authenticwholesalejerseys.net/ . -- Matt Ryan needed one of the best games of his career to lead the Falcons and their depleted offence out of their three-game losing streak last week. Cheap Jerseys From China . -- Team after team passed on Andre Ellington in the draft. Authentic Jerseys Cheap . A lawyer for MLB, Matthew Menchel, confirmed Wednesday the league dropped its case against Biogenesis of America, its owner Anthony Bosch and several other individuals. The lawsuit had accused Biogenesis and Bosch of conspiring with players to violate their contracts by providing them with banned performance-enhancing substances. Essex 368 for 8 (Lawrence 123, ten Doeschate 86, Foster 54, Klein 4-84) lead Leicestershire 238 by 130 runsScorecard If it is in adversity that a player can most accurately be judged, Essex have unearthed another gem in Dan Lawrence.Watching from the other end as his side subsided to 68 for 5 - the follow-on not averted and promotion hopes receding - Lawrence contributed a serene, chanceless century against a strong seam attack on a wicket where few other batsmen have looked comfortable. It would have been an impressive effort from any player. From a 19-year-old, it was exceptional.There is more than a hint of Alastair Cook about Lawrence. It is not just his precocious achievements - Lawrences polished century against Surrey in just his second Championship game made him (aged 17 years and 290 days) Essexs youngest centurion and the third youngest in the history of the Championship - but his ability to concentrate for long periods and complement his obvious flair with discipline and patience.There were some fine strokes in this innings; not least the flowing drive off Richard Jones to reach his third century of the campaign (no Essex batsman has made more) and the fourth of his career. But it was more his ability to defend and leave the moving ball that marked him out as a special talent. Like Cook, he oozes Test match temperament.He shared in two century stands - 125 for the sixth wicket and 130 for the seventh - turning a probable first innings deficit into an imposing lead. And he helped secure four batting bonus points that looked mighty unlikely in the morning.There will, as ever, be a temptation to mitigate this success with the disclaimer that it came against Division Two bowling. It is, to a degree, a fair point, too.But this has been a high quality game and this is a good Leicestershire attack. While Dieter Klein tired noticeably during the day - you might say he deKleined - he generated good pace in his early spells (he had 3 for 14 at one stage), has a quick bouncer and a dangerous, swinging full ball that accounted for Cook on the first evening and Nick Browne from the first delivery of the day.Jones generates movement at a good pace - it really is a mystery that he has not enjoyed more sustained success - while Ben Raine is the sort of nagging, disciplined seamer that captains love. Charlie Shreck, meanwhile, produced such a beautiful delivery to account for Ravi Bopara - the ball swung late, beat the outside edge and clipped the top of off stump - that there was a temptation to have a cigarette after it.Lawrence has shown an ability to read the situation that bodes well for his future, too. While at Cheltenham he reached his century from 162 balls, here he understood that the game was in the balance and he needed to see his side through a tough perriod.dddddddddddd He took 144 balls to reach his 50, the ball moving in the air and off the pitch, and 226 to reach three figures as the sun quickened a slow surface and drained the attack.It was his captain, Ryan ten Doeschate, who produced the most fluent batting of the day. While all other have batsmen in this match have struggled to score at a rate of 50-runs per 100 balls, ten Doescahte made 86 from 83 deliveries. If he had a little fortune early on - in ducking a Shreck bouncer, he was fortunate that the ball struck the back of the bat and sped to the boundary - he put away the poor ball sweetly and ran swiftly between the wickets. He missed out on the century he deserved when he was drawn into pushing at one outside off stump and edged to the keeper.While James Foster was cautious initially - his first boundary came from his 59th ball and, until then, he had scored just 12 - he accelerated against a tired attack and the second new ball and left Leicestershire looking visibly frustrated and weary in the field.They are not out of this match, though. If the used surface deteriorates, as they hope, in the fourth innings, Essex could yet find themselves batting last with a tricky chase. But the extra overs bowled in the first innings may show in the legs of the Leicestershire bowlers in the second and the absence of a spinner is far from ideal.Meanwhile Essex announced that Jesse Ryder, their overseas player, has been released from the remainder of his contract and allowed to return to New Zealand without delay. While Ryder has contributed some outstanding innings in white-ball cricket this season, he suffered a calf injury that prevented him from playing four-day cricket in recent weeks.In truth, Ryders three-year spell with Essex has been at least as notable for his gentle swing bowling as his batting. Making use of the green surfaces that were prevalent in county cricket for a couple of years, he claimed 92 first-class wickets at an average of 24.71 for the club. With the bat he averaged 36.53. The improved pitches this season limited his effectiveness with the ball and, as a consequence, he took only one Championship wicket. It seems unlikely that he will return.Essex do have plans for further recruitment, though. As well as Varun Chopra, already secured from Warwickshire, the club has spoken to Mohammad Amir, with a view to him fulfilling the role of overseas player from late June next year. Rumours also persist that Adam Wheater may one day return from Hampshire. Foster, as he has shown in this game, remains a high-quality player but, now aged 36, he hopes to combine his playing career with his future in education next year. ' ' '