HOUSTON _ Right off the bat, there was something extra riding on Game 1 for the Yankees.
Opening a best-of-seven AL Championship Series inside the noisy, orange-towel waving confines of Minute Maid Park, the Houston Astros held the starting pitching advantage _ with Justin Verlander and Gerrit Cole waiting in Games 2 and 3.
The Yankees objective on Saturday night: Get to Zack Greinke and ride Masahiro Tanaka and the bullpen to a victory that would steal home-field advantage from Houston.
In so many ways, that easier-said-than-done plan was executed flawlessly by Aaron Boone's club.
Tanaka faced the minimum 18 Astros through six innings and Gleyber Torres drove in five runs, lifting the Yankees to a 7-0 win before 43,311 fans.
That screaming crowd was silenced continually by the Yankees, flaunting a deeper lineup and a more experienced club than two years ago, when they lost an ALCS at Houston that went to the limit.
"We were close in 2017. Hopefully, we can get them back this time around," Brett Gardner said, recalling a Yankees club that lost all four games at Houston _ including Games 6 and 7 _ as the Astros advanced to the World Series.
For a club trying to reach its first World Series since 2009, "it's important for us to get out to a good start and play our best ball starting (on Saturday night)."
Swept in three games at Minute Maid Park back in April, "we haven't played our best baseball here," Gardner said as the Yankees entered the ALCS.
But they weren't consumed with past history.
"I think about the opportunity ahead, what we're trying to do and where we're trying to get," Gardner said. "I have a great feeling about the guys we have. We're ready for this opportunity."
Tanaka quickly established a positive tone, with an assist from his fielders.
At second base, Torres saved a first-inning hit on a grounder to his right. First baseman D.J. LeMahieu cleanly fielded a number of short-hop throws in big spots _ none greater than in the fifth inning.
On a play that momentarily turned off the electric, sellout crowd, right fielder Aaron Judge hauled in Yordan Alvarez's deep drive and completed a double play _ gunning to LeMahieu to retire Alex Bregman, who stumbled attempting to return to first base.
Using just 68 pitches, Tanaka yielded just a single and a walk, with both baserunners erased on double plays.
With his six scoreless innings, Tanaka lowered his postseason ERA to 1.32 in seven starts _ four of them against the Astros.
But he only had a 1-0 lead, in a tight battle with Greinke through the first five innings.
Torres's fourth-inning RBI double, scoring LeMahieu (single), was the only noise off Greinke until Torres and Giancarlo Stanton connected on sixth-inning solo homers.
In between a strikeout by Edwin Encarnacion, Torres pulled one over the left-field wall and Stanton hit a blast to right-center field.
And that lead grew to 5-0 against the Astros bullpen in the seventh on four straight two-out hits against Ryan Pressly.
Torres delivered the knockout blow on a two-run, bloop that dropped in front of center fielder George Springer.
By the time Gio Urshela homered in a two-run ninth, the Yankees had crushed any notion that the Astros' home dominance could cast its spell again.
At least, the Yankees who experienced the 2017 ALCS heartbreak weren't dwelling on it, publicly.
"(2017) was rough, just because we were right there and unexpectedly kind of, too," CC Sabathia said of the upstart nature of that club. "It took a little while" to get over that pain.
However, "I don't think you have to lose to learn how to win," said Sabathia, adding that the general experience of playing in the last two Octobers "is what's going to help us this year."
