Stanton breaks out as Yankees keep rolling

NEW YORK -- Perhaps it has been easy to understate Giancarlo Stanton's expected importance to the Yankees' roster, as Aaron Boone seemed to suggest. After leading last year's club in homers and RBIs, the slugger sported a zero in both categories entering play on Saturday.

That changed in game No. 76, as Stanton mashed a pair of key two-run singles and helped the Yankees extend their winning streak to a season-high eight games with a 7-5 decision over the Astros at Yankee Stadium.

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"It's just good to be able to contribute to a win, finally," Stanton said. "However I can contribute and feel good in there, you don't worry about a bunch of firsts and catching up with things now. There's no time for that."

Gio Urshela and Austin Romine cracked homers as the Yanks celebrated their 25th consecutive game with at least one home run, matching a franchise record set in 1941. They are two shy of the Major League record, established by the 2002 Rangers.

The Yankees own a season-high 5 1/2-game lead in the American League East, and Stanton can at last feel like he is in on the fun. After blasting 38 homers and driving in 100 runs in 2018, playing through injury while several teammates were shelved, he has had to lean on the cavalry this year.

“We had several guys do a great job stepping up, but nobody can replace Stanton," Brett Gardner said. "Nobody can replace [Aaron] Judge. Those guys are two pretty special big presences in the middle of the order, so it's great to have those guys back."

Ailed by a left biceps tear, a left shoulder strain and finally a left calf strain, Stanton disappeared from the Yanks' lineup after the third game of the season but re-emerged this week, just in time to join the club for what was supposed to be its most challenging stretch of the month.

Instead, the Yankees blended strong pitching and timely hitting to sweep the Rays in a three-game series, then carried that momentum into the set against Houston. Zack Britton squirmed through a ninth inning that featured three walks -- one intentional -- to put his club in position to break out the brooms after Sunday's 73rd annual Old-Timers' Day festivities.

Stanton's big knocks came in the sixth and seventh innings, as he mashed a pair of remarkably similar hard-hit singles off the glove of third baseman Yuli Gurriel. Statcast measured the first at 104.2 mph, the second at 107 mph, and Luke Voit thought that sounded low.

"He hit the ball like 110," Voit said. "What's great about him is it doesn't matter if it's in the air or on the ground. You how he’s going to hit the ball hard and it’s going to find holes eventually. I think that was good for his confidence."

The first hit gave the Yanks a two-run lead, but Jonathan Holder couldn't hold it, serving up a three-run blast to Yordan Alvarez. Romine responded by knotting the game once more, reaching the first row of the right-field seats with a solo homer off Ryan Pressly.

After DJ LeMahieu legged out an infield single and Judge reached on a catcher's interference error, Stanton delivered once more by getting his barrel to a 96.9 mph fastball.

"Those are tough at-bats," Boone said. "Pressly, that's about as tough a draw you are going to have right there. To get into a really good count and smoke a ball, big at-bats by him. I hope everyone takes notice of that."

Asked to elaborate, Boone added: "Sometimes we forget what a good player he is. I hope they saw those at-bats."

Masahiro Tanaka started for New York and limited Houston to Josh Reddick's two-run homer among eight hits over six innings, walking one and striking out one. Reddick's homer, which Tanaka said came on a so-so splitter, snapped a 14 2/3-inning scoreless streak for the right-hander.

Tanaka's final inning ended as Judge fielded a Max Stassi single off the right-field wall, then smoothly fired a strike to shortstop Didi Gregorius at second base, nailing Stassi by a healthy margin.

"A lot of things are clicking for us," Tanaka said. "I think guys are coming up with timely hits and pitchers are getting outs when they need to. I think we're just playing good baseball right now."

The Yankees had been held hitless through four innings by Wade Miley, but Urshela opened the scoring in the fifth with a two-run blast to right-center field. It was Urshela's sixth homer, matching his single-season high.

"We just keep pounding," Stanton said. "A day like today, we're getting no-hit for [four] innings and there's no stress. Just keep pushing the envelope and having tough at-bats."