HOUSTON — The kids are all right.
Rolling out a lineup that includes six players aged 24 or younger — five of them still rookies — is bound to come with plenty of highs and lows.
But the Yankees got enough of the good on Saturday night to come away with another win, 5-4 over the Astros at Minute Maid Park, with all six youngsters having a hand in it.
The 23-year-old Oswald Peraza had his most productive game of the season with a three-hit night.
The bottom four hitters in the lineup – Austin Wells (24), Everson Pereira (22), Peraza and Oswaldo Cabrera (24) – each drove in a run. Jasson Dominguez (20) and Anthony Volpe (22) both scored a run as well.
Volpe also flashed more strong defense with a jump throw in the hole at shortstop in the fifth inning to assist another rookie, right-hander Jhony Brito, who delivered 3 ⅔ scoreless innings of relief.
All in all, the young guns represented themselves well — with some help, of course, from old reliable Aaron Judge — to clinch a second straight series victory for the Yankees (67-69) — the first time they have accomplished that feat since late June. They have now won five of their last six games.
Clay Holmes nailed down the save in the ninth inning to the disappointment of the sellout crowd of 41,427.
Luis Severino, who was coming off back-to-back scoreless outings, was not as sharp on Saturday while being forced to expend extra energy. The right-hander needed 104 pitches to throw four innings – in which he allowed four runs on six hits and a walk — with the Astros (77-60) fouling off a staggering 41 of those pitches.
Giancarlo Stanton led off the second inning with a single before the bottom of the Yankees lineup came through against Astros right-hander Hunter Brown.
Volpe and Pereira both drew walks to load the bases with one out before Peraza delivered a single to shallow center field for the 1-0 lead.
Cabrera came up next and fell behind 1-2 before laying off a few close pitches to draw a walk that forced in Volpe to make it 2-0.
But after DJ LeMahieu grounded into a double play to waste a chance to do more damage, the Astros tied it right up in the bottom of the inning.
Severino walked Jose Abreu on a 13-pitch plate appearance to lead off the inning before Michael Brantley drilled an 0-2 cutter for a two-run homer to make it 2-2.
He went on to throw 40 pitches that inning — despite only one other runner reaching base — but escaped further damage
Judge led off the third inning by crushing his second home run in as many nights and his 31st in his 82nd game of the season.
This one was a 428-foot shot that put the Yankees back up 3-2.
The Astros took the lead in the bottom of the fourth on another two-run shot off Severino.
Brantley collected a one-out single before rookie catcher Yainer Diaz, on the seventh pitch of his at-bat, belted a two-run homer the other way to make it 4-3.
But the Yankees had an immediate answer once again in the top of the fifth.
Judge led off with a walk and then went from first to third when Dominguez hit a hard ground ball that went under the glove of second baseman Mauricio Dubon for an error.
After Volpe walked to load the bases, Wells hit a sacrifice fly that tied the game.
Pereira then lined a single to center field to put the Yankees ahead 5-4.