The New York Yankees continued their 2024 dominance of the Houston Astros on Wednesday night. The Yankees, thanks to home runs from Juan Soto, Aaron Judge, and Giancarlo Stanton, beat the Astros 9-4 (box score) and are a perfect 6-0 against Houston this year. They've outscored them 40-18. The Yankees have won their last nine games against Houston dating back to last season, including a four-game sweep at Minute Maid Park in the first series of 2024.
Wednesday's game was the first time Soto, Judge, and Stanton all went deep in the same game. Astros rookie righty Spencer Arrighetti surrendered all three homers -- a titanic two-run shot by Soto and solo homers by Judge and Stanton. Stanton's home run left his bat at 119.9 mph. It is the hardest hit ball in baseball this season.
Stanton now has 33 batted balls at 119-plus mph since Statcast launched in 2015. The rest of MLB has 15. Judge (six) and Shohei Ohtani (three) are the only other players with multiple 119 mph batted balls.
As for Judge, he went 3 for 5 with two doubles and the homer Wednesday, and is 18 for 54 (.333) with five doubles and five home runs in his last 15 games. The 2022 AL MVP was hitting .197/.331/.393 as recently as May 2. Judge's season batting line is up to .236/.365/.479, which is still well south of Judge's usual output, but is much more respectable.
Soto went 3 for 5 on Wednesday and is an incredible 15 for 26 with a double, two homers, three walks, and two strikeouts in six games against the Astros this season. He's driven in nine runs. Wednesday's game improved Soto's season line to .338/.437/.586. He's hit nine home runs and driven in 33 runs in 38 games. Soto has been everything the Yankees could've hoped.
The Astros, meanwhile, dropped to 12-24 with Wednesday's loss. It was the 21st time this season they allowed at least five runs. Only the very bad Colorado Rockies (24 times) and Chicago White Sox (22 times) have done it more. Arrighetti allowed five runs in five innings. Astros starters have a 5.31 ERA this year.
Earlier in the day Wednesday, Astros GM Dana Brown said he "can't envision" selling at the deadline because "this ballclub is too good." That may prove to be true -- Houston has certainly earned the benefit of the doubt over the years -- but there are red flags abound. There are under-performers up and down the roster.
Wednesday's win improved the Yankees to 25-13. Although they have dominated the Astros in 2024, this rivalry has been one-sided over the last decade or so, with Houston eliminating New York in the 2015, 2017, 2019, and 2022 postseasons.
