Homers from Alvarez, Bregman complete Astros' doubleheader sweep of Yankees

HOUSTON (AP) — The Houston Astros opened the second half of the season by sweeping the New York Yankees in a doubleheader Thursday to inch closer in the standings to the team with baseball's best record.

Yordan Alvarez and Alex Bregman both homered and combined for five RBIs as the Astros completed the sweep with a 7-5 win in Game 2.

Chas McCormick added a two-run home run for the Astros, who won the season series 5-2.

The Yankees are 64-30 and Houston's two wins Thursday improved the team to 61-32.

“You want to get off to a good start, and I think everybody came in ready to play," Bregman said. “This is what we expect out of this ball club every single night ... and hopefully we can continue that for the second half."

Yankees manager Aaron Boone seemed bothered by a question equating this season's results against the Astros to their struggles against them in the playoffs in recent years.

“I understand it’s a big story," he said. “I understand the season we’re in. It’s not going to matter unless (it’s) October. If we happen to come back here in October we’re going to show up. We’re going to expect to win. We think we’re really good. They’re really good. Don’t overstate this."

Rookie J.J. Matijevic’s pinch-hit RBI single with two outs in the ninth inning lifted the Astros to a 3-2 win in the opener of the day-night doubleheader between the American League’s top teams.

“This is huge for us to start out 2-0, to take our lead back to double digits," Houston manager Dusty Baker said of his team's lead over the Mariners in the AL West.

Aaron Judge hit his MLB-leading 34th homer on a three-run shot off Brandon Bielak to the train tracks atop left field to cut the lead to 7-5 with one out in the ninth in Game 2.

Rafael