About Last Night: Rolling Along- Yankees 12, Astros 4

About Last Night: Rolling Along - Yankees 12, Astros 4

By Tim Kabel

April 25, 2026

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The first month of the 2026 season has been a microcosm of the Yankees performance during the Boone era. The Yankees had a five-game losing streak a week or so ago and in that time lost seven of nine games. They immediately followed that up with their current seven-game winning streak. The Yankees are 17-9 and are eight games over .500 for the first time this season. The most amazing thing about this is that the manager has no explanation of why the team lost seven of nine games nor does he have any idea why they have now won seven games in a row. He simply floats along like Forrest Gump, immersed in all this activity but without any real grasp of what's going on around him.

The Yankees offense exploded last night. They had home runs from Jose Caballero, Ben Rice, Jazz Chisholm, and Ryan McMahon. For Caballero, Chisholm, and McMahon, it was the second home run of the season for each of them. For Rice it was number nine. He is tied with Aaron Judge for the team lead. Chisholm, Rice, JC Escarra, and Caballero all had multi-hit games. The only Yankees without hits were Aaron Judge and Trent Grisham (but they reached base via walks multiple times).

Will Warren pitched a solid six innings. He allowed two runs on seven hits while striking out six and walking one. He has allowed two runs or fewer in five of his six starts this season and his ERA is 2.59. Fernando Cruz struggled in his one inning of relief, allowing two runs. Ryan Yarbrough pitched the final two innings, allowing one hit and one walk while striking out two and yielding no runs.

I have stated multiple times, as have many others, that a team can only play the games on their schedule. It seems that the Yankees are catching their opponents at the perfect time recently. (Well, anytime at all is the perfect time to play the Royals for the Yankees.) Both the Red Sox and Astros are struggling mightily. The Astros are currently 10-17. It will be very important to see what happens in the final two games of this series. Since the Astros are reeling, it would behoove the Yankees to take advantage of the situation and either win the series or in the best-case scenario, sweep it. There is no guarantee that the Astros will be dreadful when they play again in August.

The Yankees need to make hay when they can. In other words, when they play weak opponents such as the Royals, they need to take advantage of it. When they face teams that historically play them tough or are talented but are going through a losing streak, that is also something the Yankees need to take advantage of. It seems to be an annual occurrence that not only do the Yankees have a Boone-Swoon, but they also fail to seize opportunities consistently. Perhaps this year will be different. I have written that before as well. But you never know. Perhaps this will be the year when they can put it all together. Anything is possible. However, many Yankees fans will need to be convinced that this is not just another year when the Yankees get out to a fast start in the first month or so and then collapse. We have all seen that movie before. 

For now, things are great. The only dark cloud on the horizon is the fact that Giancarlo Stanton left the game in the sixth inning with right lower leg tightness. Normally, that might not be a major cause for concern, but this is Giancarlo Stanton we are talking about. Aaron Boone said that they will have a better idea about the severity of the situation tomorrow. Whether or not the Yankees will share that information with the media and the fans is a matter of speculation. I will go on the record by stating here and now that if Stanton needs to go on the IL, the Yankees will probably recall Jasson Dominguez. However, I would not expect him to play regularly. Boone will either use Paul Goldschmidt as the DH full-time or he will put Randal Grichuk in the outfield and give one of the other outfielders a day as the DH on a rotating basis. We have all seen that before too. 

Boone always gravitates toward fading veterans over youngsters. If you think I'm overreacting, consider the fact that as recently as this week, Boone kept Ben Rice, one of the best players in the league, out of a game against a left-handed pitcher. Rice has been doing extremely well against all pitching and needs to play every day. However, Boone’s peculiar use of Rice and other young players has been a hallmark of his tenure as the Yankees manager. I don't want us to get ahead of ourselves. Perhaps Stanton will only need a day or two out of the lineup, but we have all seen that movie too.

Let's hope that the Yankees keep on rolling as long as possible. Until the end of October would be nice.

A Few Tidbits:

·       The Yankees currently have the best record in the American League at 17-9.

·       Lance McCullers, Jr. allowed seven runs, five earned, on six hits in five innings. McCullers has yielded at least four runs in each of his last three starts. Lance did not stand a chance last night. 

·       Jazz Chisholm, Jr. hit his second home run of the season and second in two days last night. He had three hits and four RBI. Apparently, he is thawing out now that the warm weather is here or more accurately, now that the Yankees are playing in the warm weather. Hopefully there won't be a cold snap anytime soon.

·       Over their last 35 2/3 innings, the Yankees’ starting rotation has allowed just three earned runs.

·       Every member of the starting infield for the Yankees hit a home run last night.

·        Carlos Rodon made his first rehab start last night, pitched 4.1 scoreless innings for High A Hudson Valley. He allowed one hit, one walk and hit one batter while striking out four. He threw 65 pitches, 43 of which were strikes.

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The Yankees hope to continue the winning streak tonight when they face the Astros at 7:10 PM at Daikin Park.  Ryan Weathers, (1-2, 3.18 ERA) will face Mike Burrows, (1-3, 6.75 ERA). Let's hope the Yankees will send Mike back to his burrow and win a game for new father Ryan Weathers.