By Bryan Hoch / MLB.com NEW YORK -- Andy Pettitte fired strong ball into the eighth inning and became just the third hurler to log 200 victories in pinstripes, pitching the Yankees past the Astros, 4-3, on Friday at Yankee Stadium. Pettitte won 37 games for the Astros from 2004-06, but the longtime Texas resident had not pitched against Houston until Friday's tilt, the first of New York's 15 straight games against National League clubs. With Pettitte on the verge of joining Whitey Ford (236) and Red Ruffing (231) as the Yankees' organizational 200-game winners, New York put a quick three-run lead into Pettitte's back pocket in the first inning. Nick Swisher worked a bases-loaded walk against Houston starter Brett Myers, and Francisco Cervelli drilled a two-run single up the middle with two outs. Houston answered against Pettitte in the second inning, as Tommy Manzella connected for a two-run double down the left-field line, chasing home Hunter Pence and Pedro Feliz. New York knocked in an insurance run against Myers in the fifth, as Kevin Russo walked, stole second base and scored on Mark Teixeira's broken-bat single to shallow right field. A Derek Jeter error on a potential double-play ball led to Houston's third run in the eighth, when Jeff Keppinger lifted a sacrifice fly facing Joba Chamberlain. Pettitte reached another milestone in the game. Keppinger's first-inning flyout clicked Pettitte's odometer to 3,000 career innings pitched, putting him with Philadelphia's Jamie Moyer as the only active pitchers in that group.
