NEW YORK -- Prior to Hunter Brown’s first career start at Yankee Stadium on Friday night, manager Dusty Baker was asked if he had any conversations with his rookie right-hander about preparing for a crowd full of Bleacher Creatures. Baker didn’t just reject the idea that he’d have to settle Brown’s nerves or boost his confidence -- he almost scoffed at it.

“Nah, this kid is like … he’s from Detroit,” said Baker. “I don’t know any punks out of Detroit.”

The 24-year-old did everything he could to prove Baker’s assertions correct. In the Astros’ 7-3 win over the Yankees, Brown battled through six innings, giving up two runs on five hits while striking out four and walking just one. Thanks to a massive day from the middle of the order -- homers from Yordan Alvarez and Yainer Diaz and a two-run double from Kyle Tucker carried the freight -- Brown was provided with more than enough cushion to earn his eighth win of the year.

“It was good. He was locating his fastball well, which set up his changeup and slider,” Baker said. “Any time you locate that fastball early in the count and get ahead of the hitters, you get a better chance to get them out. … Other than a couple of solo home runs, [especially] that one that hit the foul pole, he threw the ball great.”

It wasn’t Brown’s most dazzling outing statistically. He notched just one more strikeout than his season-low tally and only produced four swings and misses. But Brown’s ability to tiptoe out of trouble by inducing well-timed groundouts limited any threats that arose, as he produced eight groundouts compared to three flyouts.

“I mean, we have a great defense,” said Brown, “and getting as many ground balls as I do, I’ve got a lot of trust in those guys to make the plays they have all season, and they continue to do so.”

Brown’s night almost went in the opposite direction in the blink of an eye. After being given a three-run lead in the top of the first inning thanks to Diaz’s 14th homer of the year, Brown gave up back-to-back hits to Jake Bauers and Gleyber Torres in the bottom half. Then, Billy McKinney crushed a deep fly ball to the wall in left-center field. Center fielder Jake Meyers covered 93 feet with a sprint speed of 28.2 feet/sec to make an incredible sliding catch at the wall to rob McKinney and end the Yankees’ threat.

“I think as a pitcher, you know when somebody got something pretty good,” said Brown. “Initially, off the bat, I thought it was going to be a home run, and I looked back and Jake made an unbelievable catch. Honestly, it kept momentum with us and probably changed the game. … No doubt it helped us get to victory.”

From Meyers’ point of view, he knew from contact that McKinney put a solid charge into the ball and that any chance of a catch would require maximum effort. His sliding grab carried him into the wall as his knee collided with the padding. But in Meyers’ eyes, when you make a catch like that, a little temporary pain is worth it.

“I knew the wall was coming up, so I just had to kind of slide into it and finish the catch,” said Meyers. “I feel good. You know, you’ve got to risk it to get the biscuit is what I call it. It’s a lot of fun, and I enjoy doing it.”

The Astros kept the Yankees at bay for most of the night following that first frame. Alvarez’s towering solo homer (his team-high 20th) into the Houston bullpen in the fifth inning provided a response to Bauers’ solo shot in the bottom of the third. And Tucker responded to a homer from Isiah Kiner-Falefa with a two-run double (his team-high 77th RBI) in the sixth to put the game out of reach.

But in between the offensive outburst was Brown navigating a Yankees lineup that jumped on Cristian Javier the previous night. Brown could have folded following the two solo homers, but he instead displayed a maturity and steadiness to settle down, earning another quality start and showing the intangibles that Baker bragged about pregame.

“Well, hey man, he wants to be great,” said Baker. “He was 6-7 a couple of starts ago, and now he’s 8-7. He’s throwing the ball well.”