HOUSTON -- New York Yankees manager Joe Girardi admitted he didnt know anything about Yangervis Solarte when he was signed to a minor league deal in January. The rookie is quickly teaching his manager all about himself. Solarte had three hits and an RBI in his first major league start and Derek Jeter drove in a run to give the New York Yankees their first win this season, 4-2 over the Houston Astros on Thursday night. "You have to give a lot of credit to our scouting department and front office for finding this kid because he gives us a lot of options being a switch-hitter and can play all over the infield," Girardi said. The 26-year-old Solarte has spent time in the minors with Minnesota and Texas, but never got called up until this season after hitting .429 this spring. "Ive worked very hard for this, and to be able to help the team, thats even better," Solarte said in Spanish through a translator. "These are the small things that are key." Solarte singled in a two-run third inning which put New York up 2-1. He doubled in the fifth and scored on a single by Jeter to push it to 3-1. Houston cut the lead to one in the bottom of that inning before Solarte came through again, this time with a single that drove in Ichiro Suzuki. Solarte, the third baseman, also had a nifty defensive play when he grabbed a bullet hit right at him by Jose Altuve in the eighth. Ivan Nova allowed six hits, two runs and walked five in 5 2-3 innings. He was helped by a defence which turned four double plays with him on the mound. "This could have been a game where he gave up a lot of runs without those double play balls," Girardi said. "He made big pitches when he had to." David Robertson, who took over as closer for Mariano Rivera, pitched a perfect ninth for his first save. Dexter Fowler continued to shine in his first season with the Astros, getting two singles to become the second player in franchise history -- and first since Ken Caminiti in 1987 -- to begin his Houston career with three straight multi-hit games. "We had our chances, especially early on there," Houston manager Bo Porter said. "I think we hit into four double plays in the first five innings. We had baserunners everywhere. It was probably one big hit away from getting some separation early in the game." Houston starter Brett Oberholtzer also went 5 2-3 innings, allowing five hits and three runs while fanning five. Suzuki doubled with two outs in the seventh before scoring on the RBI by Solarte. Solartes hit was a high pop-up which dropped right between three Astros players assembled directly in front of home plate. Solarte doubled with one out in the fifth and scored on a two-out single by Jeter to make it 3-1. Jeter was thrown out trying to stretch the hit into a double. Houston got to 3-2 when Jonathan Villar doubled and scored on a single by Fowler in the bottom of the inning. The fourth double play by the Yankees got the first two outs before Chris Carter grounded out to end the inning. Oberholtzer retired the first seven batters he faced before running into trouble. Suzuki and Solarte hit consecutive singles before a third one by Brett Gardner scored Suzuki to tie it at 1-all. Jeter walked and Carlos Beltrans sacrifice fly scored Solarte to give New York a 2-1 lead. Fowler and Grossman hit back-to-back singles to start the first before Nova plunked Castro to load the bases. Altuve grounded into a forceout that left Castro out at second and scored Fowler to make it 1-0. Carter walked to load the bases again, but the Yankees turned a double play to limit the damage. The Yankees also used double plays to get out of the third and fourth innings. Castro was also hit by a pitch in the third inning to become the first Astro since Brad Ausmus on April 7, 2007, to be hit twice in a game. He remained in the game before being replaced by Carlos Corporan in the top of the sixth with a bruise on his right foot. X-rays were negative and he is day to day. NOTES: A replay was initiated by umpires on the field to check the count on an at-bat by Solarte with two outs in the ninth and it was confirmed it was a 3-1 count. ... Japanese ace Masahiro Tanaka is scheduled to make his major league debut against right-hander Dustin McGowan when the Yankees open a three-game series at Toronto on Friday. ... Houston right-hander Lucas Harrell opposes left-hander Tyler Skaggs when the Astros begin a series with the Los Angeles Angels. ... The Astros observed a moment of silence before the game to remember the victims on Wednesdays shooting at Fort Hood, which left three dead and 16 wounded. 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Drouin, from Corunna, Ont., bested his own record of 2.38 metres set in Aug.The Minnesota Wild try to avoid their first losing streak of January tonight as they continue a three-game homestand versus the Edmonton Oilers, who juggled their roster a day ahead of this matchup. After dropping their final six games of December, the Wild opened the new calendar year with four consecutive wins. Following a loss to Colorado on Saturday, Minnesota rebounded the following night to blank Nashville 4-0, but then had the tables turned on them Tuesday. Beginning their three-game stay at home, the Wild were shut out 3-0 by the Ottawa Senators behind Robin Lehners 27 saves. Darcy Kuemper made 23 saves versus the Predators to record his first NHL shutout in his sixth career start, but yielded all three goals on 32 shots faced against the Senators. "Execution just wasnt really there all night long," Minnesota head coach Mike Yeo admitted. "We werent really moving our feet, werent attacking, werent crisp with our passing." Minnesota was blanked for just the third time this season and for the first time at home. If past history is a factor, Yeo may go with Niklas Backstrom in net tonight. The 35-year-old Finn is an outstanding 25-4-1 with a 1.91 goals against average and four shutouts in 32 career starts versus the Oilers. The Wild have won 13 of their last 16 versus the Oilers, though Edmonton did notch a 6-1 victory in Minnesota to conclude last seasons series on April 26. It was just the Oilers second victory in their past 21 in Minnesota. Edmonton pulled off a pair of trades on Wednesday, both involving goaltenders. The Oilers first sent netminder Devan Dubnyk to the Nashville Predators in exchange for forward Matt Hendricks, then shipped a 2014 third-round pick to the Los Angeles Kings for goalie Ben Scrivens. Dubnyk struggled to an .894 save percentage and 3.36 GAA in 32 games for the Oilers this season, incluuding 29 starts.dddddddddddd He also began to lose playing time when Ilya Bryzgalov was signed in November. "Its been an unfortunate season and the team wanted to go in a different direction," Dubnyk said. Scrivens posted a .931 save percentage and 1.97 GAA in 19 games for the Kings this season, while the veteran Hendricks had two goals and four points in 44 games with the Predators. "It gives us an opportunity to bring in another goaltender, Ben Scrivens, whos had statistically a very good season so far," Oilers general manager Craig MacTavish told his teams website. "It gives us an opportunity to have a pretty good look at him going forward to see where he could possibly fit in on a longer-term goaltending plan." Scrivens does get to be reunited with Edmonton coach Dallas Eakins, who coached the goaltender in the minors with the Toronto Marlies. Scrivens gets the call between the pipes this evening. The Oilers will try to avoid a third consecutive loss tonight having been bested 5-2 by the Dallas Stars on Tuesday. The Stars scored 14 seconds into the game and led 3-1 after the first period. "Its the same old story; we cant put a full 60 minutes together for some reason," Edmonton defenseman Justin Schultz said. "We played well at the end, we were skating and using our speed and we had a lot of chances, but weve got to find a way to do that for all 60 (minutes)." Schultz and Sam Gagner had the goals, both assisted by Taylor Hall, and Bryzgalov made 25 saves in Edmontons seventh loss in nine games overall and fifth in a row on the road. It is unknown if the Oilers Ales Hemsky will be able to play tonight after sitting out the third period on Tuesday with an ankle injury. Bryzgalov is 7-8-0 with a 2.64 GAA in 16 career meetings with the Wild, all but one of those starts. ' ' '