HOUSTON — The Yankees rolled a seven Friday on a night when they just kept cashing in at the plate.
But they were left holding their breath to see if their good luck ended there.
Behind a relentless offensive attack that crushed four home runs, the Yankees cruised to their seventh straight win, 12-4 over the Astros at Daikin Park.
The good vibes were tempered, though, after Giancarlo Stanton left the game in the sixth inning with right calf tightness, threatening to end the Yankees’ run of good health to start the season. The Yankees expected to know more Saturday about their veteran DH, who was not scheduled for any tests as of Friday night.
Otherwise, the Yankees (17-9) put on a hit parade — 13 in total — against Astros pitching to extend their winning streak.
Each member of the starting infield homered — Jazz Chisholm Jr., Ryan McMahon, Ben Rice and José Caballero — Chisholm as part of a season-high three-hit night as he finally begins to break out of the rut he was in to start the season.
“We always say hitting is contagious, so when everybody’s doing it, you just can’t get enough of it,” Chisholm said.
Rice, Caballero and birthday boy J.C. Escarra all had multi-hit nights as every member of the starting lineup reached base at least once.
Chisholm, who has homered in back-to-back games after going his first 23 games without one, finished the night 3-for-4 with four RBIs and a walk. He made an adjustment in Thursday’s win over the Red Sox to back off the plate and slightly close his stance, which has paid major and immediate dividends.
“I feel like me again,” said Chisholm, whose only negative of the night was a brutal automated ball-strike system challenge in the ninth inning on a pitch that was not close to being a ball, for which he said he would be paying a $1,000 fine.
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The Yankees traveled nearly 2,000 miles overnight Thursday and in doing so took a step up in weight class to challenge their red-hot rotation — the Astros (10-17) boasting a much more potent offense than the Red Sox or Royals, their last two opponents.
But Will Warren proved to be up to the task, working around traffic for most of the night to toss six innings of two-run ball. The right-hander — who has allowed two earned runs or fewer in each of his six starts — scattered seven hits and one walk while striking out six, attacking the Astros while his offense gave him plenty of support.
“Absolutely no fear when they put up runs like that,” said Warren, who picked off a runner for the second straight game to squash a potential rally in the third inning. “I think you go out there and, ‘Here it is,’ and let them play behind you.”
Over their last 35 ²/₃ innings, the Yankees rotation has allowed just four runs (three earned), providing the backbone for this winning streak.
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Before Warren even took the mound, he was treated to a 3-0 lead courtesy of his offense — which took advantage of a José Altuve throwing error that wiped out a potential double play and scored the first run before Chisholm’s two-run single off Lance McCullers Jr.
McMahon, who did not start any of the three games against the Red Sox as the Yankees faced three straight lefties, was back in the lineup Friday and made it count. The scuffling third baseman led off the second inning with his second home run of the year, going the other way to poke one into the Crawford Boxes to make it 4-0.
It was later a 5-2 game after five innings before the Yankees blew it open in the sixth and seventh innings against lefty reliever Colton Gordon, exploding for a 12-2 lead.
“I thought they were patient,” manager Aaron Boone said. “Really made McCullers work, were able to just string together a lot of really good threats all night and then able to break through there a couple of those times in a big way. Just a lot of really good at-bats up and down the lineup, lot of contributions. So, a good night.”
