Gary Sanchez, Gleyber Torres and DJ LeMahieu homered in the bottom of the fourth inning as the New York Yankees connected for the 23rd consecutive game and recorded a 10-6 victory over the Houston Astros on Thursday night at Yankee Stadium in the opener of a four-game series.

Edwin Encarnacion added his league-leading 23rd homer by hitting a two-run drive in the seventh as the Yankees won their sixth straight.

New York's home run streak is the second longest in team history and two shy of the team record set from June 1-29, 1941.

Sanchez opened the barrage with a solo homer to start the inning, hitting a 2-1 fastball from Framber Valdez (3-3) for his 22nd homer, tying Mike Trout for second place in the AL home run race.

Following a double by Giancarlo Stanton and a walk to Encarnacion, Torres made it 4-0 by hammering a first-pitch fastball into Houston's bullpen beyond the left-center field fence.

Torres' 17th homer occurred as a heavy downpour began pelting the field.

During an at-bat to Cameron Maybin, umpires began consulting with the grounds crew, who began pouring drying agents on the mound while checking weather apps on the phone.

Maybin kept the inning going by drawing a walk that knocked out Valdez. After stealing second, Maybin scored when LeMahieu hammered a 2-1 fastball from Chris Devenski onto the netting above Monument Park in center field.

After LeMahieu homered, rain returned and play was halted on a 1-0 count on Sanchez. The Yankees added two more runs on Maybin's two-run double in the fifth.

Following the delay, Jake Marisnick and Alex Bregman hit back-to-back homers in the fifth for Houston off Nestor Cortes Jr. Rookie Yordan Alvarez hit a solo homer in the sixth off Tommy Kahnle and Josh Reddick hit an RBI single in the eighth as the Astros lost their fifth straight game.

Marisnick hit his second homer of the night in the ninth and Alvarez hit an RBI double later in the inning.

Chad Green served as the opener for the sixth time and allowed one hit in two innings. Cortes (2-0) followed and allowed two runs on three hits in three innings as the Yankees improved to 6-0 when using Green as their opener.

David Hale allowed three runs in 2 2/3 innings and forced the Yankees to bring in Aroldis Chapman. Chapman retired Reddick to end it and recorded his 20th save in 22 chances.

Valdez allowed five runs on four hits in 3 1/3 innings. He walked three and struck out three.

--Field Level Media