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.
But the good vibes were tempered when Giancarlo Stanton left the game in the sixth inning with what the team called “right lower leg tightness,” threatening to end the Yankees’ run of good health to start the season.
Otherwise, the Yankees (17-9) put on a hit parade — 13 in total — against Astros pitching to extend their winning streak.
Jazz Chisholm Jr., Ryan McMahon, Ben Rice and José Caballero all homered — 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.
Chisholm, who has now 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. The only negative to Chisholm’s night was a brutal automated ball-strike system challenge in the ninth inning, unsuccessfully trying to reverse a strikeout on a pitch that was not even close to being a ball.
Rice, Caballero and J.C. Escarra all had multi-hit nights as every member of the starting lineup reached base at least once.
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 now allowed two earned runs or fewer in each of his six starts — scattered seven hits and one walk while striking out six.
Over their last 35 ²/₃ innings, the Yankees rotation has allowed just four runs (three earned), providing the backbone for this winning streak.
Before Warren even took the mound, he was treated to a 3-0 lead courtesy of his offense, with some help from a José Altuve error.
Trent Grisham and Aaron Judge led off with back-to-back walks against Lance McCullers Jr. before Cody Bellinger singled to load the bases.
Rice came up next and hit a tailor-made ground ball to Altuve, who fielded it but then flipped an errant throw out of the reach of Carlos Correa at second base, allowing all the runners to be safe and one to score for the 1-0 lead.
After Stanton smashed into a double play, Chisholm roped a two-run single to right to make it 3-0.
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.
After the Astros got a run back in the bottom of the second, Chisholm led off the fourth with a homer that made it 5-1.
The Yankees then blew the game open in the sixth and seventh innings against lefty reliever Colton Gordon, turning a 5-2 game into a 12-2 lead.
Rice’s ninth home run of the season — tying Judge for the team lead — made it 9-2 in the seventh before Caballero capped off the rally with a solo shot of his own that pushed the lead to 12-2.
