HOUSTON – Now churning like a hurricane through the AL, the first-place Yankees won their eighth straight game Saturday night.
And this Yankee run had a hand in the utter chaos happening in Boston.
Moments before the Yankees’ first pitch at Daikin Park, on the way to an 8-3 victory against the stumbling Astros, news about the Red Sox reached Aaron Boone.
“I wasn’t sure if it was true initially,’’ the Yankees manager said of hearing that Boston manager Alex Cora and several coaches had been let go.
“I had heard whispers of it as we were walking out (to the field),’’ said Boone. “So, yeah, certainly surprising and probably caught us off guard.’’
Two nights prior, the Yankees completed a three-game sweep of their ancient rivals at Fenway Park, limiting the Red Sox to three runs in 27 innings and leaving them in the AL East basement.
Boone and Cora have been good friends since their ESPN analyst days, and “I have a feeling he’ll do whatever he wants,’’ Boone said of a manager with a world championship pedigree.
“He’s a great manager, smart, talented person that I’m sure will have a lot of opportunities available to him,’’ said Boone, who was “very shocked’’ by Cora’s dismissal.
More than anything last week, the Yanks exposed more cracks in the Red Sox’s roster design, with a pedestrian offense and a pitching staff trying to stay afloat due to injuries.
After the game, the Yankees still hadn’t decided on Giancarlo Stanton’s status.
Unavailable on Saturday due to tightness in his right calf, Stanton remained a candidate for the injured list.
From the bench, Stanton watched every Yankee in Saturday’s lineup reach safely, with 12 hits – three of them solo homers – and 10 walks against Houston pitching.
“Patience was the difference tonight,’’ said Boone. “Really good at-bats, deep counts.’’
And there was Austin Wells, whose two RBI on Saturday matched his seasonal total entering the game.
Leading off what would be a three-run seventh inning, Wells’ second homer of the year broke a 2-2 tie and validated what had been a series of better at-bats with nothing much to show.
“Just trying to keep it simple, swing at strikes and take balls,’’ said Wells, who was 4-for-28 with four singles – but nine walks – since his last extra-base hit, a homer on April 11.
“I think it (reflects on) how I’ve been getting pitched, a little bit how I was getting pitched last year,’’ Wells said of those walks as a harbinger for better results.
“I don’t know how it’s going to correlate directly into hitting the ball, but being in the zone for me’’ is the key.
Wells also caught Ryan Weathers' first start as a new father, pitching into the sixth, and at one point retiring 11 straight Astros - three days after the birth of his son.
"It's been crazy,'' Weathers said of his week, which included an early-morning Wednesday call, in Boston, that his wife had gone into labor.