After the Astros tied the score against one stout Yankees reliever and outlasted the others, they pounced on Happ, a starter with a 4.91 E.R.A. during the regular season. Happ escaped a jam he inherited in the 10th inning, but the first pitch he threw to Correa in the 11th — a high fastball not far enough inside — was blasted over the right-field fence. It was the Astros’ first hit since the fifth inning, but it ended the game.

“Before the game, Carlos told me, ‘Jose, I’m going to do something big tonight,’” Astros second baseman Jose Altuve said, “and thank God he did.”

Before Sunday’s game even started, the Yankees were dealt an all-too-common blow during this injury-ridden year. Left fielder Giancarlo Stanton, who missed most of the regular season with a litany of injuries but returned a month ago, was out of the lineup with a right quadriceps strain. Stanton sustained the injury beating out an infield hit in the second inning of Game 1. He continued to play and later hit a home run, and didn’t report any issues until after the game.

Whether Stanton would need to be replaced on the A.L.C.S. roster was still an unknown; the Yankees said they hoped Monday’s day off would give Stanton some time to rest and then be re-evaluated. Cameron Maybin, one of the many fill-ins who kept the Yankees afloat this season amid the wave of injuries, started instead in left field on Sunday.

Even without Stanton, the Yankees had plenty of firepower for their battle against Verlander, one of the best pitchers in baseball. Verlander survived his fading command long enough to get two outs in the seventh inning and departed after 109 pitches. Paxton, on the other hand, notched just seven outs total with his uneven command.

“I obviously wanted to stay in the game,” Paxton said. “But it’s the postseason and I understand the decisions.”

In the third inning, Paxton again fell behind in counts and coughed up singles to Astros left fielder Michael Brantley and Altuve. Trailing by 1-0 and wary of falling further behind against Verlander, Boone pulled Paxton. Right fielder Aaron Judge erased that deficit with a go-ahead two-run homer in the fourth.