HOUSTON — Having already homered off one Yankees killer in his major league debut, Jasson Domínguez teed off on another on Sunday.
The 20-year-old, playing in just his third game, cranked his second home run in the sixth inning when Cristian Javier hung a slider over the inside part of the plate. The two-run blast broke a 1-1 tie, thus paving the way for a 6-1 win and series sweep for the Yankees.
The Yankees had not swept the rival Astros in a three-game series since September 2013. Domínguez, who homered off the 40-year-old Justin Verlander on Friday, was just 10 years old at the time.
The right-handed Javier entered Sunday’s start with a 1.83 ERA over 19.2 career innings against the Yankees, and he mostly cruised until the sixth. A DJ LeMahieu double got the Bombers on the board just before Domínguez’s blast.
Javier totaled six innings, four hits, three earned runs, zero walks, eight strikeouts and 96 pitches.
Gleyber Torres added a run in the ninth when he launched a José Urquidy pitch to the train tracks at Minute Maid Park. Austin Wells then picked up an RBI double before Oswald Peraza did the same, giving the Yankees one last insurance run.
Meanwhile, Michael King demonstrated that his trial in the rotation is a worthwhile endeavor for the second straight start. The righty logged his longest outing since 2021, tallying five scoreless innings against a strong Astros lineup. King allowed five hits, walked none and struck out four while throwing a season-high 69 pitches.
Houston’s run came on a Kyle Tucker sac fly in the first frame.
Prior to the game, Aaron Boone said that King has “definitely put himself in that conversation” to start next year, thought the manager noted that the look of the Yankees’ roster could change by then. Nonetheless, King has been impressive his last two outings, as he blanked the Tigers for four innings on Aug. 29.
Tommy Kahnle followed King with two perfect innings out of the bullpen on Sunday. Jonathan Loáisiga and Clay Holmes then wrapped the game up for the Yankees.
With a three-city road trip over, the Yankees will begin a home stand with a three-game series against the Tigers on Tuesday before hosting the Brewers over the weekend.
Gerrit Cole, looking to further his case for a Cy Young award, will start the first game against Detroit. The Tigers had not decided on their starting pitcher for the opener, but they have Matt Manning and Eduardo Rodriguez lined up for the second and third games of the series.
Clarke Schmidt will start on Wednesday for the Yankees, while Carlos Rodón will get the ball on Thursday.