HOUSTON — Ugly across the board.

Twice with a three-run lead in the middle innings Wednesday night, the Yankees bullpen imploded, in a four-run eighth inning in particular, leading to a wild 8-7 loss to the Astros in front of 30,693 at Daikin Park.

The defeat featured a bizarre eighth inning that saw the Astros score four runs and the ejections of reliever Devin Williams and manager Aaron Boone.

The Yankees made it interesting in the ninth against reliever Bryan Abreu when Cody Bellinger hit a three-run homer with two outs to cut the deficit to 8-7. But Jazz Chisholm Jr. struck out looking to end it.

The Yankees (77-62), who led 3-0 entering the fifth and 4-1 entering the sixth, fell 3 1⁄2 games behind the AL East-leading Blue Jays and remained tied for the top wild-card spot (and for

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