Gary Sanchez, Gleyber Torres go deep in seventh straight victory for Yankees
Yankees second baseman Gleyber Torres reacts as he runs the bases on his two-run home run against the Astros during the seventh inning at Yankee Stadium on Friday. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
Aaron Judge, for obvious reasons, entered Friday night as the main story. But it was Gary Sanchez, Gleyber Torres and James Paxton who earned the headlines.
Their performances, along with a handful of standout defensive plays, added up to a seventh straight win for the Yankees, who beat the Astros, 4-1, in front of 41,166 at the Stadium.
“A little bit of everything,” Aaron Boone said of the ingredients to the winning streak.
Judge, making his return from the injured list and batting leadoff for the first time in his big-league career, went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts. “Felt great,” he said. “Not the results you want, but it’s the first day back. Only way’s up from there.”
Plenty came from elsewhere as the Yankees (48-27) took the second game of this four-game set against the Astros (48-29), who have lost six straight.
Sanchez and Torres homered for the third straight game — the first set of Yankees teammates ever to homer in three consecutive games together — and Paxton turned in a second straight steady outing.
The lefthander, who allowed one run and five hits in five innings-plus, was aided by a pair of standout defensive plays by the recently acquired Edwin Encarnacion, who got the start at first in place of Luke Voit. “Edwin made some great plays for me at first, got me out of some tough spots,” Paxton said of the two diving plays in the third that saved at least one run.
Paxton (5-3) walked three, struck out seven and left with a runner at second and none out. Adam Ottavino, Tommy Kahnle and Zack Britton got the ball to Aroldis Chapman, who allowed a walk and a two-out bunt single by Jose Altuve but struck out two in recording his 21st save.
Britton came on with a 4-1 lead in the eighth, thanks to Torres’ 18th homer, a two-run blast in the seventh that provided some breathing room.
“I prepared really well in my offseason,” said Torres, who hit 24 homers last season but, having spent time on the disabled list, made winter conditioning a priority. “I did a lot of exercise, I tried to get a little more power and stamina, and it’s been the difference for sure.”
Britton walked Robinson Chirinos and Tyler White back-to-back with one out, then saw Torres and Didi Gregorius turn a terrific 4-6-3 double play on a sharp grounder toward the middle by Josh Reddick.
Two batters after Cameron Maybin singled with one out in the third, Sanchez jumped on a 1-and-0 changeup, hammering it 481 feet to left-center for a 2-0 lead. That gave Sanchez 23 homers in 210 at-bats and 52 RBIs in 56 games.
The Yankees have hit at least one home run in 24 straight games, one short of the team record established in 1941.
“You look at the lineup we’re putting out there, it's scary,” Paxton said. “A lot of power all the way through.”
After scoring the Yankees’ first run, Maybin immediately left the game with a left calf strain and is bound for the injured list, Boone said. He added that a roster replacement had not yet been decided on.
Maybin has performed well since the Yankees acquired him in April to help with the onslaught of injuries the club sustained early in the season. Now it’s another IL stint to deal with, something the Yankees have excelled at.
“Like I’ve been saying this whole time, when guys get injured, people are going to step up,” Judge said. “People are confident in their abilities and what they can do. Everyone’s just trusting each other to just go out there and do their job. Everybody’s pulling the same rope.”
Erik Boland started in Newsday's sports department in 2002. He covered high school and college sports, then shifted to the Jets beat. He has covered the Yankees since 2009.
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