Caballero provides lift from bottom of order as Yanks extend win streak to 8

HOUSTON – The Yankees are doing nothing but winning these days, and a big reason has been the man at the bottom of the order.

Continuing a torrid stretch, José Caballero homered for the second straight night as part of his third consecutive multi-hit game, finishing 3-for-5 in New York’s eighth straight victory, 8-3 over the Astros on Saturday night.

“Just keeping it simple,” said Caballero, who over his past 14 games dating to April 11 is hitting .377 (20-for-53) with three homers, four doubles and 10 RBIs. “Trying to just shorten my swing and connect with the ball and stay on time.”

In addition to Caballero’s homering to Daikin Park’s short left field for the second straight night – “I like the Crawford Boxes,” he said – Austin Wells and Trent Grisham also went deep for the Yankees, who supplemented 12 hits with 10 walks, including bases-loaded free passes to Cody Bellinger and Jazz Chisholm Jr.

“Patience was the difference tonight,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “Just really good at-bats, deep counts, really good takes in walking situations.”

Boone really likes what he has seen from Caballero of late.

“Just a tough out,” Boone said. “Just a gritty, tough player. You kind of want him up there in certain situations. Back-to-back nights where he’s taken advantage of the Crawford Boxes, and he’s doing a good job of putting the ball in play the last couple of days.”

Boone also appreciates the shortstop’s aggression on the bases, even if it doesn’t pay off 100% of the time. After Caballero stole second base in the third inning to go 10-for-10 on the season, he was caught twice attempting to steal third.

“[If] you’re going to take as many extra bases as he is, you’re going to get caught from time to time,” Boone said. “Get that steal of third locked down, and it would have been a Rickey [Henderson]-like night.”

The Yankees got 5 1/3 strong innings from Ryan Weathers, who was activated from the paternity list after a whirlwind week that included the birth of his first child.

Weathers was with the Yankees in Boston on Tuesday night, then got a call at 4:30 a.m. ET Wednesday informing him that his wife’s water had broken. He said a car drove him to Greenwich, Conn., where he arrived at 9:47 a.m. His son was born 17 minutes later at 10:04.

“I made it in time,” Weathers said. “It was great.”

Weathers threw a bullpen session at Yankee Stadium on Thursday and played catch there Friday before catching a flight to Houston.

“It’s still my job. I still have to perform. Just go with that mindset,” said Weathers, who on Saturday allowed six hits and no walks while striking out four.

Weathers started the sixth by missing with a sweeper to Carlos Correa, who homered to tie the score at 2. Correa scored the Astros’ first run after leading off the first inning with a double, but aside from Correa’s hits, Weathers was pleased with his 86-pitch outing.

“Obviously, I wish I would have been a little sharper in the sixth,” the left-hander said, “but the bounce-back after the first after the Correa double … I thought I controlled the strike zone pretty well and kept the ball on the ground for the most part.

“The secondary stuff was really good. I’m starting to get where I can rely on the breaking balls a lot more, and that opens up the zone for me more.”

Wells put the Yankees back on top when he homered off Kai-Wei Teng to start the seventh. Over the last three innings, New York padded its lead by drawing seven walks off an Astros staff that has surrendered more than any other team in the Majors.

“[We’re] being patient when we need to, being aggressive when we need to,” said Yankees first baseman Ben Rice, who boosted his batting average to .337 with a 3-for-4 night and drove in a run with a sacrifice fly. “Guys are just delivering.”