Remember when the Astros used to dominate the Yankees?
Those days sure seem to be over.
All they needed was Alex Verdugo.
After the Yankees opened the season with a four-game sweep in Houston, they slammed the Astros for a fifth straight time on Tuesday with a 10-3 win in The Bronx.
They’ve now won four in a row for a third time this season, as well as five of their last six, to move back into a first-place tie with Baltimore in the division.
This victory was sparked by a pair of relative newcomers to the rivalry, with Verdugo taking Justin Verlander deep for a three-run homer in the bottom of the first.
The left fielder had three hits on the night.
And 25-year-old right-hander Luis Gil easily outpitched Verlander.
Gil allowed just one run — and one hit — in six effective innings, although he walked four.
The lone hit was Kyle Tucker’s long homer to right field with one out in the top of the first.
He didn’t give up another hit before being removed after six innings and 97 pitches.
Verlander, meanwhile, looked every bit of his 41 years, as he gave up three homers and seven runs — all earned — in five innings.
Houston is in a tie for last place in the AL West with the loss and it was easy to see why, despite their résumé.
“You don’t expect to see them in the standings where they are, but it’s baseball and it’s a stretch,’’ Aaron Boone said before the game, adding the Astros have several pitchers out with injuries. “You expect them to get it going at some point.”
That point wasn’t Tuesday.
Verlander was making his fourth start of the season after being sidelined in spring training by shoulder inflammation.
Verlander was sharp in those first three outings, but the Yankees had his number early and often on Tuesday.
After Gil got Jose Altuve to ground out to lead off the game, Tucker followed by blasting a long homer into the second deck in right to give Houston the lead.
Verlander quickly got into trouble in the bottom of the first, as Juan Soto poked a single down the third-base line with one out and Aaron Judge walked.
Verdugo, who’d been 0-for-2 in his career against Verlander, then crushed a home run to right to put the Yankees up 3-1.
The new fan favorite admired the homer before beginning his trot to first.
Verdugo ended the top of the sixth with a fine diving catch of a Jeremy Pena sinking liner to left.
Gil pitched around a pair of two-out walks in the third, but needed 30 pitches to get out of the inning.
It was the only time Gil allowed multiple base runners in an inning.
Anthony Volpe, who hit a pair of deep fly balls in his first two at-bats, took Verlander deep in the fourth to extend the Yankees’ lead to 6-1.
It was just Volpe’s second homer since he was moved to the leadoff spot on April 10.
A 421-foot, 118.8 mph shot by Giancarlo Stanton made it 7-1 in the fifth.
Stanton now has seven home runs on the year.
