Yankees blast Astros as Trent Grisham hits slam, Jazz Chisholm homers twice and Max Fried gets 15th win
Yankees' Jazz Chisholm Jr. tosses his bat after hitting a home run, his second of the game, in the eighth inning on Tuesday night against the Astros in Houston. Credit: AP/Ashley Landis
HOUSTON — The Yankees took care of business against some of the worst major-league baseball has to offer the last three weeks.
But a significant schedule upgrade beckoned.
Tuesday night against the Astros, an organizational menace the last decade, especially in the postseason, marked the start of four straight series against teams that would make the American League playoffs as of now — the Blue Jays, Tigers and Red Sox to follow.
“That’s what we want,” Aaron Judge said Sunday in Chicago after the Yankees had taken three of four from the lowly White Sox. “It’s coming down to the wire, we want to play the best teams .<TH><MK0>.<TH><MK0>. see what we’re made of, go out there and keep playing our ball and see what happens. But I like our chances. Especially the way the boys have been swinging it and the way our starters have been rolling, keep it rolling.”
Behind two homers from Jazz Chisholm Jr., Trent Grisham’s third grand slam of the season and a third straight stellar outing by the back-on-track Max Fried, the Yankees did keep it rolling, blasting the Astros, 7-1, in front of 33,133 at Daikin Field.
“These are the guys that we’re probably going to play in the playoffs, and this is what we’ve got to do,” Chisholm said afterward of the schedule gantlet. “We’ve got to go out there and dominate. Early, often and consistently.”
The Yankees (77-61), who have won 15 of their last 20, stayed 2 1/2 games behind the AL East-leading Blue Jays and tied for the top wild-card spot (and for second place in the division) with the Red Sox. The Yankees improved to 13-20 against the teams that would currently make the AL playoffs, the aforementioned clubs plus the Mariners.
Chisholm’s two-run homer in the second off lefthander Framber Valdez, who came in 12-7 with a 3.18 ERA, gave the Yankees a 2-0 lead and gave the second baseman his 27th homer to extend his single-season career high. No. 28 came in the eighth. With 25 stolen bases, Chisholm is a threat to become just the third Yankee to record a 30-30 season in homers and stolen bases (Bobby Bonds in 1975 and Alfonso Soriano in 2002 and ’03).
Grisham’s second grand slam in four games — he hit one Friday night in Chicago — made it 6-0 and gave the centerfielder his 29th homer, also extending his career high. He’s hit six homers in his last nine games.
“I was just talking to myself on deck, knowing it was going to be a big situation. Just really getting excited for that \[but\] getting really calm and getting really focused,” Grisham said. “And then just looking for a pitch I can handle.”
The Yankees, who outhit the Astros 11-5, bumped their MLB-leading home run total to 236. They came into the night with 31 more than the next closest team, the Dodgers.
Fried, meanwhile, improved to 15-5 with a 2.98 ERA after allowing one run and four hits over seven innings, further shoving behind him the horrible eight-game stretch from July 1-Aug. 16 when he went 3-3 with a 6.80 ERA. In three starts since, Fried has allowed a combined two runs and 12 hits, striking out 18 in 20 innings.
“Just mixing my pitches,” Fried said of the difference of late. “Just pitching. Not trying to get the punch-out, just focusing on trying to get ground balls, changing speeds, keeping hitters off balance. It’s what I do best.”
Fried, under the weather with nausea much of the day, did not allow his first hit Tuesday night until Cam Smith’s leadoff single in the fifth. The AL West-leading Astros (76-63) scored in the sixth on a fielder’s choice groundout by Yainer Diaz, which made it 6-1.
After the first two Astros reached in the seventh, Aaron Boone made a mound visit with the lefthanded-hitting Cesar Salazar up. Fried stayed in and the three-time Gold Glove winner made a terrific play on Salazar’s ensuing bunt, making a sliding catch toward the third-base side of the mound before firing to first to double off Mauricio Dubon. Fried retired Jeremy Pena on a routine grounder to short on his 101st and final pitch of the night.
“He’s one of my favorites,” Grisham, also a Gold Glover, said with a smile about watching Fried field his position. “I love watching the ease, the way he gets to certain balls and how he has a cannon, and he just lets it eat.”
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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