HOUSTON — The Yankees came to Daikin Park on Friday night and put on one of the most eye-catching offensive displays of the 2026 season.
Four home runs. Thirteen hits. Twelve runs. The Yankees’ seventh straight win.
And buried inside all of that was a historical footnote that most fans may not have caught.
Every member of the Yankees’ starting infield went deep. Jazz Chisholm Jr. Second base. Ryan McMahon. Third base. Ben Rice. First base. Jose Caballero. Shortstop. All four. Same game. Final score: Yankees 12, Astros 4.
The joy of the night was tempered by one thing. Giancarlo Stanton left the game in the sixth inning with right calf tightness. That news cast a small shadow over what had otherwise been a nearly perfect evening for the Yankees.
Just the third time in Yankees history
When all four infielders in a lineup homer in the same game, it is rare. When it happens for a franchise with 123 years of history, the rarity becomes something to talk about.
Friday was only the third time in Yankees history that the entire starting infield hit a home run in the same game. The first time was in 1939, when Babe Dahlgren, Joe Gordon, Frankie Crosetti, and Red Rolfe all went deep. The second time came in 2011, when Mark Teixeira, Robinson Cano, Eduardo Nunez, and Ramiro Pena all homered together.
That 2011 Yankees group did it 15 years ago. Chisholm, McMahon, Rice, and Caballero just joined them in the record books.
Asked what it means when the entire lineup gets going at once, Chisholm kept it simple. The Yankees had been building momentum all week and the Astros got the full force of it. “We always say hitting is contagious, so when everybody’s doing it, you just can’t get enough of it,” Chisholm said.
Chisholm breaks out in his biggest game of the year
For Chisholm, Friday was the clearest sign yet that his early-season struggles are fading fast. He went 3-for-4 with four RBIs, a walk, and three runs scored. He homered for the second straight game, just two days after ending a 23-game drought against the Red Sox in Boston.
His night began in the first inning with a two-run single off Lance McCullers Jr. that capped a three-run rally built partly on a Jose Altuve throwing error. In the fourth, he hit a solo shot to right field off McCullers to push the lead to 5-1. In the seventh, he added an RBI single against the bullpen.
His adjusted stance, closing up and backing off the plate, is clearly working. His only negative was a failed automated ball-strike challenge in the ninth. He expected a $1,000 fine.
“I feel like me again,” Chisholm said.
Warren steady, McMahon shows life and the Astros had no answers
Will Warren did his job for the sixth straight start. He went six innings, allowed two runs on seven hits and one walk, and struck out six. He has now allowed two earned runs or fewer in every start of the 2026 season. He also picked off a runner at second base in the third inning to kill a Houston threat, the second consecutive game he has turned that play.
Warren said the early run support made the entire night easier. He was up 3-0 before he threw his first pitch, thanks to that first-inning rally. “Absolutely no fear when they put up runs like that,” he said. “I think you go out there and, ‘Here it is,’ and let them play behind you.”
McMahon had not started any of the three Red Sox games after facing three straight lefties. Back in the lineup Friday, he made it count. He led off the second with a solo shot to the Crawford Boxes going the other way, his second homer of the year.
Rice hit his ninth homer of the season, a solo shot off lefty reliever Colton Gordon in the seventh. Four of Rice’s nine home runs this year have come against left-handed pitchers. Caballero also went deep off Gordon in that same seventh inning, part of a four-run frame that pushed the Yankees’ lead to 12-2.
Boone praised the approach against McCullers.
“I thought they were patient,” the Yankees manager said. “Really made McCullers work, were able to just string together a lot of really good threats all night and then able to break through there a couple of those times in a big way. Just a lot of really good at-bats up and down the lineup, lot of contributions. So, a good night.”
Stanton injury clouds the night
The one Yankees concern on Friday night was Stanton. He was replaced by Randal Grichuk as a pinch runner in the sixth inning. That was not a baseball move. Stanton had tightness in his right calf.
Boone said the team was hoping to catch it before it became something worse.
“Hopefully, we got ahead of anything serious,” he said. “We’ll see where we’re at tomorrow.” No imaging had been scheduled as of Friday night.
The Yankees improved to 17-9 and lead the AL East. The Astros dropped to 10-17 and sit last in the AL West. Houston has now lost 12 of its last 14 games, playing without rotation starters Hunter Brown, Cristian Javier, and Tatsuya Imai, all on the injured list.
Over their last 35 2/3 innings, the Yankees rotation has allowed just four runs. Three earned. Friday’s historic infield explosion did the rest.
What do you think? Leave your comment below.
