While the New York Yankees saw one lengthy streak end, another continued.
Despite their season-high eight-game winning streak getting stopped Sunday, the Yankees still hit a homer for a team-record 26th straight game.
On Monday, the Yankees will get a chance at matching the major league record for consecutive games with a homer when they host the Toronto Blue Jays in the opener of a three-game series at Yankee Stadium.
New York outscored foes 60-23 and hit 17 homers during the eight-game streak, but it ended when J.A. Happ allowed three homers and the Yankees could do little in a 9-4 loss to the Houston Astros on Sunday afternoon.
Despite playing their worst game in over a week, the Yankees managed to get another homer when DJ LeMahieu connected. LeMahieu’s homer broke the team record for consecutive games with a home run, set from June 1-29, 1941, and gave the Yankees a chance at tying the MLB mark, set by the Texas Rangers from Aug. 11-Sept. 9, 2002.
The Yankees have 44 homers during the streak but none by Aaron Judge, who is 0-for-10 since returning Friday from missing two months with a strained left oblique injury.
“In a lot of ways, it’s one of the ways that we’re built,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said.
“I think we do a really good job, especially in this ballpark, especially our right-handed hitters, of using the entire field, which when you play here, is important if you are going to hit for consistent power, and our guys, for the most part, really do that well.”
The Blue Jays took two of three at home from the Yankees three weeks ago and are coming off a series win in Boston. After coming back from a five-run deficit Saturday, Toronto recorded a 6-1 victory Sunday and will attempt to win three straight for the first time since winning four in a row April 18-21.
While the city of Toronto is enamored with the newly crowned NBA champion Raptors, the Blue Jays are hoping some of their younger players continue developing, and that includes Vladimir Guerrero Jr. Guerrero went 0-for-5 Sunday and is hitting .246 with seven homers 20 RBIs in his first 48 games.
Another part of Toronto’s youth movement is Lourdes Gurriel Jr., who had three hits and made a key defensive play Sunday as he continues to make the transition from a middle infielder to an outfielder. Gurriel’s big day gave him a .344 average during his last 16 games, a stretch in which he has five homers and 12 RBIs.
“He’s becoming one of the best left fielders in baseball,” Toronto manager Charlie Montoyo said. “Slowly, but he’s getting there.”
CC Sabathia will start for the Yankees, five days after getting his 250th career win by pitching six innings of one-run ball in Wednesday’s 12-1 win over Tampa Bay.
Sabathia is 18-12 with a 3.65 ERA in 35 career starts against Toronto.
Aaron Sanchez will start for Toronto and is seeking his first win since April 27. Sanchez is 0-8 with a 7.55 ERA in his last 10 starts and last pitched Wednesday in an 11-6 loss to the Los Angeles Angels when he allowed seven runs (six earned) on nine hits in 3 2/3 innings.
Sanchez is 2-4 with a 3.24 ERA in 15 appearances (five starts) against the Yankees.
