Yankees smash three homers, bottom of the order comes through in 8-3 win over Astros

-Ryan Weathers returned to the team from paternity leave and faced an uphill climb early**. Carlos Correa** led off the first with a double and eventually scored from third on a one-out single by Isaac Paredes.

The young left-hander would settle in, but the long ball would get Weathers in the sixth. Correa launched a solo shot to tie the game at 2-2. The Astros would hit Weathers hard, even on outs, and manager Aaron Boone noticed it, taking out Weathers with one out in the sixth and a runner on for Fernando Cruz.

Cruz walked Jose Altuve but bounced back to strike out Christian Walker and Yainer Diaz to get out of the inning and put an end to Weathers' night.

The Yankees southpaw tossed 86 pitches (56 strikes) across 5.1 innings, allowing two runs on six hits, no walks and striking out four.

-The Yankees haven't trailed much during their winning streak, but knotted things up in the third via a Trent Grisham solo shot over the Crawford Boxes. The Yankees would then take the lead thanks to a solo shot from Jose Caballero in the fifth. It's the second straight game Caballero has homered. Caballero also extended his hitting streak to seven games with a bunt single earlier in the game. That streak is tied for the longest of his career (2024 with the Rays).

-Austin Wells proved to be an unlikely hero, launching the team's third solo homer of the game, this time in the seventh to give the Yankees a 3-2 lead. The Yankees backstop had just one hit (1-14) over his last five games entering Saturday, and the homer was his first extra-base hit since April 11.

The Yankees would have a chance to add on. Caballero singled and Grisham walked, but Caballero was caught stealing third for the second time in this game. Ben Rice followed with a single and Aaron Judge walked, setting up Cody Bellinger with the bases loaded and two outs. Bellinger fell behind 1-2, but fought back to draw a walk and push across a big insurance run. Jazz Chisolm Jr. worked a walk as well to give the Yankees a 5-2 lead.

The Yankees would push across another run in the eighth on a Rice sac fly. The first baseman finished 3-for-4 and now has 21 RBI on the season. He's also leading the team with a .337 batting average. Well had an RBI single in the ninth and finished 2-for-3, his first multi-hit game since Opening Day (March 25). Wells entered the game with just two RBI and doubled it on Saturday.

Ryan McMahon got in on the fun with an RBI single to put the Yankees up 8-2. McMahon finished 2-for-5.

-Jake Bird, who returned to the team Saturday after Angel Chivilli was placed on the IL, was strong in his inning of work. He struck out a batter in a 1-2-3 inning on just nine pitches. Camilo Doval allowed a walk, but pitched a clean eighth. Tim Hill gave up a leadoff homer to Walker, but got the next three batters out to lock down the win.

Game MVP: Bottom of the order

Wells, McMahon and Caballero went a combined 7-for-13 with four RBI.

Highlights

What's next

The Yankees and Astros wrap up their series on Sunday afternoon. First pitch is set for 2:10 p.m.

Luis Gil (1-1, 4.11 ERA) will take the mound against Spencer Arrighetti (2-0, 2.45 ERA).