Red-hot Stanton powers Yankees past Astros again, 6-3

NEW YORK (AP) — Giancarlo Stanton homered again and knocked in four runs, Aaron Hicks hit a tiebreaking single in the eighth inning and the New York Yankees beat the Houston Astros 6-3 on Wednesday for their fifth straight victory.

With fans in the Bronx chanting curses at José Altuve and several other Astros for the second consecutive night, the Yankees (16-14) got three innings of scoreless relief from their major league-best bullpen and won for the 10th time in 13 games to move two games above .500 for the first time this season.

Yuli Gurriel and Aledmys Díaz had back-to-back RBI doubles off Jordan Montgomery in a three-run fourth that gave Houston a 3-2 lead. But the Yankees rallied with two outs and none on in the fifth, and Stanton tied it when he greeted Ryne Stanek with an RBI double.

The big slugger launched a long homer off rookie starter Luis Garcia in the third, extending his hitting streak to 11 games with his second two-run shot in two nights against the rival Astros. Stanton finished 3 for 4 with a walk and has 17 hits in his last six games, raising his batting average from .205 to .314.

New York will try for a three-game sweep Thursday afternoon, with ace Gerrit Cole facing Houston for the first time since leaving the Astros for a $324 million, nine-year contract with the Yankees before the 2020 season.

This is Houston's first visit to Yankee Stadium since the team's 2017-18 illegal sign-stealing scam was exposed after the 2019 season. A crowd of 9,895 limited by the pandemic called Alex Bregman and other Astros cheaters throughout the night, but the venom and vitriol seemed to be dialed down a bit from the series opener Tuesday.

New York won this one even though No. 3 hitter Aaron Judge fanned all five times up, standing six runners. The five...

source https://www.chron.com/sports/article/Red-hot-Stanton-powers-Yankees-past-Astros-again-16155295.php