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The Yankees use four homers to beat the Astros, 10-6, Yankee Stadium. >> Box score

Six takeaways from Thursday's game

1) The Yankees tandem of Chad Green as opener and Nestor Cortes Jr. as follower can only be derailed by a rain delay at this point. Green tossed two scoreless innings to start the game and Cortes followed with two scoreless of his own. After the delay, Cortes came back out for the fifth inning and got two quick outs. The scoreless string ended there as the left-hander allowed back to back home runs before retiring the final batter of the inning. The duo has been terrific for the Yankees, making it realistic to believe the club will stick with them until the wheels fall off.

2) Gary Sanchez hit a solo homer in the Yanks' six-run third inning. The Yankees catcher now has 22 on the season, which is tied for second in the American League with Angels outfielder Mike Trout. Sanchez is hitting a home run every 10.5 plate appearances, which is ahead of his rookie season pace of 11.5, which appeared unlikely to be duplicated after last season's production.

3) Who is the AL home run leader you ask? That's newly acquired Edwin Encarnacion, who launched his second homer in pinstripes and his 23rd of the season. Encarnacion hit his first Yankee home run to right field and tonight's homer was hit deep into the left field seats, displaying he has power to all fields.

4) Gleyber Torres hit his 17th home run of the season, which leads all American League middle infielders. Torres, who added a single on the night, is hitting .287 with 43 RBIs.

5) Aaron Judge is set to activated Friday and Cameron Maybin made his last ditch effort to stick on the roster with a two-run single in the sixth inning. Maybin, who added his sixth stolen base of the season, has been one of the Yankees hottest hitters, yet there is a chance that the Yanks will let him go in order to keep the bullpen at eight relievers. In my view, this is not the best choice.

6) Giancarlo Stanton recorded his first three hits since returning from the injured list, a 112.6 mph double, a laser 118.9 mph single and an infield knock. Stanton was hitting the ball well during his rehab assignment and now he's clocking one of the top hit speeds of the season (tied for the second hardest to his own 120.6 mph hit earlier in the season). It appears all is well with the Yankees outfielder.

Highlights

The Kraken & The Kid. pic.twitter.com/iuGhJi0O18
- New York Yankees (@Yankees) June 21, 2019

RISP: The Game of Global Domination. pic.twitter.com/Vc29N3kNIu
- New York Yankees (@Yankees) June 21, 2019

What's next

James Paxton (4-3, 3.93 ERA) takes the mound for the Yankees as they host the Astros, who will have Brad Peacock (6-4, 3.67 ERA) take the hill on Friday at Yankee Stadium at 7:05 p.m.

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