Why Yankees’ Brett Gardner suddenly is red hot

Brett Gardner has raised his batting average 60 points during a 15-game hit streak. He went 4-for-5 with two home runs, including a game-tying two-run blast in the bottom of the ninth inning, to help the Yankees beat the Houston Astros, 6-5 in 10 innings on Tuesday, May 29, 2018 (5/29/18).

NEW YORK — The Brett Gardner of 2017 is alive and well.

Remember that guy?

His career-high 21 homers last year still are a bit surprising.

The little fellow had just one in his first 41 games this season.

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Now Gardner has three in four games counting his two on Tuesday night, the second of which was a game-tying, two-run shot in the ninth inning of the Yankees 6-5 10-inning comeback win over the Houston Astros.

The Yankees‘ veteran leadoff hitter/left fielder also homered in the first inning and finished the night 4 for 5 to hike his season average to .256.

That’s a big three-week jump from May 8 when he was below the Mendoza line at .196 following an 0-for-3 night against the Red Sox.

During his hot streak, he’s hit .373 (22 for 59) with three homers and eight RBIs in 15 games.

What the secret to his recent success?

“Usually when I get in a little funk and I’m struggling my timing is a little off,” Gardner said. “You could probably say that for most hitters. It’s all about timing and rhythm. I’ve been on time and just taking good swings in the zone.”

Yankees manager Aaron Boone expected this surge based off what he was seeing from Gardner even prior to the last three weeks.

“A while ago, I felt he was close,” Boone said. “I felt like some of the balls he was hitting well he was just hitting on the ground a little too much. But I don’t think a ton has changed other than he’s finding some holes now. He’s started to impact the ball. We’ve seen some more extra-base hits from him.

“But at-bat quality, I think it’s been there all along. So I just felt like with him it was a matter of time based on what we were seeing and he’s been great for us.”

The Yankees trailed Houston 5-3 heading to the bottom of the ninth on Tuesday. Miguel Andujar started a rally with a leadoff walk facing Astros righty Chris Devenski, then after fellow rookie Gleyber Torres struck out, Gardner hit a pop-fly homer to right that barely made it into the seats over the glove of Astros right fielder George Springer, who reached above the wall.

“Springer, he’s not as tall as (Aaron) Judge, but he’s a tall guy (at 6-foot-3) and he can jump over there, so we’ve seen him bring some back before,” Gardner said. “Thank goodness it got out.”

One inning later, Gardner’s clutch hit meant more when the Yankees won the game on a 10th-inning walk-off hit by Torres.

“That’s my job up at the top of the lineup, not necessarily the homers, but to get on base for those (sluggers),” Gardner said. “I’ve been seeing the ball better lately, having some good at-bats, and I’ve been doing a pretty good job of getting on base. Just trying to continue doing that.”

Randy Miller may be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @RandyJMiller. Find NJ.com on Facebook.