Yankees’ red flags appear in rare loss

An eight-game winning streak — with the last six coming against two of the best teams in the American League — had the Yankees riding high.

On Sunday, they got a bit of a wake-up call from Justin Verlander and the Astros, who pounded the Yankees, 9-4, in The Bronx, preventing a home-team sweep.

And while one loss — especially after their longest stretch of success of the season — is hardly alarming, there were some red flags, as J.A. Happ was pounded in one of the worst starts of his career.

The Yankees also saw how dominant Verlander can be.

Happ, coming off a solid start against the Rays in which he didn’t give up a homer, was bad from the outset Sunday following Mariano Rivera’s debut at Old-Timers’ Day earlier in the day.

The left-hander gave up a blast to Jose Altuve that reached the second deck in left to lead off the game and it only got worse from there.

In the third, Altuve hustled for a double on a ground ball to left-center with one out. After Alex Bregman flied out, Happ gave up a single to center. Aaron

Hicks seemed to think about trying to get Altuve at home, but didn’t make a throw, as the Astros took a 2-0 lead.

The Astros put the game out of reach in the fourth, with three consecutive singles to load the bases before Tyler White launched a grand slam to right, giving Houston a 6-0 lead.

It’s the third time this season Happ has given up at least six runs in an outing this season. He matched career highs by giving up eight runs, three homers and 11 hits.

Happ’s day didn’t end until Yordan Alvarez hit a monster two-run homer into the second deck in right in the fifth and he was booed loudly after finally being pulled following the shot.

It was just the latest subpar game for Happ in The Bronx. He entered with a 5.13 ERA in eight starts at Yankee Stadium this season, but had pitched reasonably well in his previous two outings at home, holding the Rays and Red Sox to three runs over 10 innings.

Luis Cessa immediately gave up a homer to Yuli Gurriel, but helped preserve the bullpen by pitching four solid innings.

Verlander was dominant early as the Astros — without the injured Carlos Correa and George Springer — snapped a seven-game losing streak, their longest since 2015.

DJ LeMahieu opened the bottom of the first with a single, but was erased on a Luke Voit double play and Verlander retired seven straight before a two-out walk to Brett Gardner in the third.

Hicks blasted a 2-0 pitch deep into the seats in the third that he seemed to think was a long home run, but the ball landed foul and he grounded out on the next pitch.

Following LeMahieu’s leadoff single in the first, the Yankees didn’t get another hit off Verlander until Hicks singled to left with two outs in the fifth, which led to a mock cheer from the angry crowd.

Gardner followed with another single to left and LeMahieu got the Yankees on the board with a three-run homer to make it 9-3. The Yankees have homered in 26 consecutive games, a franchise record. They are one shy of the MLB mark set by the Rangers in 2002.

LeMahieu’s home runs provided the only runs scored off Verlander, who struck out nine in seven innings.

In six outings against the Yankees since joining the Astros — including the postseason — Verlander is now 4-0 with a 1.65 ERA.

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