NEW YORK _ The longball kept one Yankee streak on track and derailed another.
Sure, DJ LeMahieu's three-run blast in the fifth inning ran the franchise record to 26 consecutive games with a home run.
However, the four homers Houston hit on Sunday, including a backbreaking grand slam by Tyler White, allowed the Astros to avert a sweep, 9-4, at Yankee Stadium.
The likelihood of an undefeated 10-game home stand _ especially one that began with three against Tampa Bay and four versus Houston _ seemed low from the start.
Yet taking the first six of that span and running their overall win streak to eight allowed the Yankees to generate a buzz with the home fans. An Old-Timers' game that featured the return of Mariano Rivera only added to the energy in the sellout crowd of 46,769.
Jose Altuve put a damper on things three pitches in, when he took starter J.A. Happ (7-4) deep. LeMahieu led off the bottom of the first with a single, but that was the last hit New York mustered against Justin Verlander (9-3) until the fifth.
By the time LeMahieu's record-setter landed beyond the short porch in right, the Astros had pushed their lead to nine and knocked out Happ after four-plus innings.
Yordan Alvarez's two-run homer marked the end of the left-hander's day, and Yuli Gurriel greeted Luis Cessa with a solo shot.
Even still, the Yankees kept their comfy lead atop the AL East and took 3-of-4 from a banged-up Houston team that had swept them earlier in the season, when the shoe was on the other foot.
Monday begins a three-game set with the Blue Jays, and if New York manager Aaron Boone has excelled at anything, it's been keeping the ship on an even keel, win or lose.
"Something we've done really well all season long is the daily focus," manager Aaron Boone said before Sunday's game. "Coming in (and saying), 'What do we have to do to win a ballgame?'
"I feel like as a group, we've had that singular focus, and it's led to a lot of different people contributing in different ways," Boone said.
LeMahieu has been one of those. Back in his leadoff spot, he finished a double shy of the cycle and scored his second run Sunday after an eighth-inning triple. Aaron Judge's first RBI since a return from the IL drove him home.
Aaron Hicks and Brett Gardner both singled and scored on LeMaiheu's homer, and Gary Sanchez delivered the only other hit with a blooper in the ninth.
