HOUSTON _ The Yankees again saw the Justin Verlander of last October.
No Yankees fan needs reminding of what that means.
The Astros right-hander, off to an absurdly hot start this season, continued that with 14 strikeouts Tuesday night, matching a career high.
But the Yankees, after losing starter Jordan Montgomery to what the team called "left elbow tightness" after one inning, matched zeros over eight innings, with Domingo German throwing four scoreless innings, followed by Chad Green and Dellin Betances tossing one each.
That allowed the offense to finally break through, doing so on Gary Sanchez's monstrous three-run homer to dead center in the ninth off Ken Giles that helped send the Yankees to a 4-0 victory in front of 34,386 at Minute Maid Park.
Thrilled to see anyone but Verlander, who retired the last 16 batters he faced, on the mound in the ninth, Aaron Judge started the inning with a sharp single to right.
Didi Gregorius followed with a double to left-center, which brought up Sanchez, who destroyed a first-pitch slider for his eighth homer of the season. Aaron Hicks singled and later scored on a Will Harris wild pitch to make it 4-0 and send fans streaming for home.
Aroldis Chapman struck out the side in the bottom of the ninth.
The Yankees (19-10), after striking out 14 times the night before against Charlie Morton and three relievers, struck out 15 times against Verlander and Giles on Tuesday. Verlander, who came in 4-0 with a 1.36 ERA, allowed three hits and did not walk a batter.
The victory, a solid rebound to Monday's 2-1 loss and accomplished in another October-esque atmosphere in this ballpark that has been a recent house of horrors for the Bombers, nonetheless might have come with a steep cost.
Rotation depth the Yankees have never felt good about seems as if it's about to be tested.
Montgomery departed Tuesday night's start after a seven-pitch first inning in which he showed no visible signs of distress
The 25-year-old Montgomery, who came in 2-0 with a 3.76 ERA, will return to New York on Wednesday to be evaluated by club physician Christopher Ahmad, the team announced.
German, a 25-year-old righty who impressed in spring training and is likely to take Montgomery's next turn in the rotation if necessary, allowed a leadoff single to Yuli Gurriel in the second but retired three straight, two on strikeouts. German allowed four hits and struck out four.
Verlander struck out eight over the first four innings, striking out two batters in each frame.
German and his curveball kept the Astros off balance for two innings but Houston mounted a threat in the fourth. Carlos Correa worked a leadoff walk and Gurriel ripped a single to left on a 1-and-2, 96-mph fastball.
German, however, got Alex Bregman to fly softly to right, then induced a comebacker off the back of Marwin Gonzalez that resulted in a 1-6-3 inning-ending double play.
Jake Marisnick blooped a double to right with two outs in the fifth but German struck out George Springer swinging at yet another curveball to end the threat.
That turned out to be German's final inning as Green replaced him for the sixth. The right-hander threw a scoreless inning, recording one strikeout. Betances allowed a one-out single to Gonzalez in the seventh and threw a wild pitch.
But the right-hander made it six straight appearances without allowing an earned run, striking out Evan Gattis swinging at a fastball and Brian McCann looking at a curveball.
