Yankees bomb Rangers, win 4th straight | Rapid reaction

The Yankees hit five home runs in a 7-3 victory over the Rangers at Yankee Stadium on Thursady, including a pair from Neil Walker.

NEW YORK — After getting massacred in Boston, this is what the Yankees were supposed to do: bully bad teams.

So far, so good.

The Yankees stretched their winning streak to four games with a 7-3 victory over the last-place Rangers at Yankee Stadium on Thursday night.

They did it after rocking the lowly White Sox for three games in Chicago following a brutal four-game sweep at the hands of the Red Sox, leaders of the American League East.

How it happened

And they did it with some serious flexing.

The Yankees combined for five home runs, two from Neil Walker, who for the first time in his career homered from both sides of the plate.

They also got bombs from Aaron Hicks, Miguel Andujar and Giancarlo Stanton, whose 121.7 mph solo blast in the fifth was the hardest-hit home run since at least 2015, when MLB’s Statcast started keeping such statistics.

The muscle supported J.A. Happ — his first start back from the disabled list following hand, foot and throat disease — and his six-inning, three-run performance.

Closer Aroldis Chapman made it scary. His velocity was way down and his conrol was off. He walked the first two hitters he faced and had runners on the corners with two outs before getting Elvis Andrus to strike out to end it.

What it means

The Yankees were nine games behind Boston in the division and held a four-game lead for the Wild Card first-place position entering the day.

The Yankees have scored seven runs in three of their last four games.

It was the Yankees’ fourth game with five or more home runs, tying the Dodgers for the most in the league.

Nine different Yankees have multi-homer games this season.

The Yankees have 20 multi-homer games this season, the most in the league. The record is 24 by the 1966 Braves and the 1961 Yankees, according to researcher Katie Sharp.

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Happ struck out nine — one shy of his season high. He gave up a walk and four hits, including Jurickson Profar’s solo shot to center field in the fourth that cut the Yankees’ lead to 2-1.

The Rangers also got a two-run double to right-center in the fifth inning from Shin-Soo Choo, whom Happ hit with pitches to lead off the game and in the third inning.

The Yankees did their damage off Texas rookie Ariel Jurado, who lasted five innings and 73 pitches, giving up seven hits while walking three.

Walk like a man

Walker’s home runs were solo bombs — the first from the left side of the plate in the Yankees’ three-run fourth, the other from the right side in the sixth. 

Walker has three homers in his last 17 games. He had two in his first 60. Walker entered the game hot, hitting .323 in his previous 20 games.

Bombs away

Hicks’ two-run blast to the second deck in right field put the Yankees up, 2-0 — a score that would last until the fourth inning. It was his 20th blast, the first time he’s hit that many home runs in a season. The Yankees have four players with 20 or more home runs.

Andujar’s shot just made it over the left-field wall in the fourth, a two-run job that also brought in Greg Bird, who walked in the prior at-bat.

Shane Robinson started in right field as Giancarlo Stanton continues to nurse a sore left hamstring.

David Robertson pitched a scoreless seventh. Dellin Betances did it in the eighth.

Next

Yankees righty Masahiro Tanaka (9-2, 3.76 ERA) vs. Rangers lefty Mike Minor (8-6, 4.53 ERA) at 7:05 p.m. Friday at Yankee Stadium.

Brendan Kuty may be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @BrendanKutyNJ. Find NJ.com Yankees on Facebook.