Gerrit Cole, Giancarlo Stanton (two HRs) stop Yankees' skid

The stars finally were aligned for the Yankees on Saturday.

A three-game losing streak and slide down the AL East standings made the contest against the Cubs a moment — and the Yankees’ big names met that moment.

Gerrit Cole was nothing short of scintillating for the first seven innings and Giancarlo Stanton was nothing short of brawny, pounding a pair of home runs as the Yankees rolled back into the win column with a 6-3 victory over Chicago before 43,507 in muggy-then-rainy conditions at the Stadium.

Cole and Stanton set the tone early. After the righthander retired the Cubs in order on 16 pitches in the top of the first, Stanton hit a titanic 447-foot solo home run on a 1-and-0 pitch from Cubs lefty Drew Smyly to give the Yankees a lead they would not relinquish.

Stanton’s home run was spectacular. It came off the bat at 118.1 mph and caromed off the facing above the club level inside the leftfield foul pole. Manager Aaron Boone said “that first ball — wow — I’ve never seen that before.”

“Over the years I [hit] some pretty good ones, but that one was nice,” Stanton said. “Worth one run, though.”

His two-run home run off the rightfield foul pole on an 0-and-2 pitch made the score 6-1 in the fifth inning and gave him his first multi-homer game since May 12 of last season. The ball ricocheted back onto the field and originally was ruled to be in play, and Stanton made it to third without a throw despite going into his home run trot. It quickly was ruled a home run after a review.

Michael King got the final five outs for his sixth save of the season. Josh Donaldson picked up his 14th hit of the season . . . and 10th home run. Centerfielder Harrison Bader had a two-run double and made a great diving catch on Yan Gomes’ sinking liner to end the game.

The Yankees managed only two hits in Friday’s 3-0 loss to the Cubs and slid into fourth place. That's the kind of situation in which Cole’s excellence this season has really served the club. This was the eighth time he’d gotten the start after a loss, and the Yankees have won each time.

Cole pitched one-run ball through the seventh but paid for a mistake in the eighth when former Yankee Mike Tauchman hit a 3-and-1 changeup for a two-run homer that cut the Yankees' lead to 6-3. Cole’s final line was three runs, five hits and a walk in 7 1/3 innings with five strikeouts.

The righthander is 9-2 with a 2.85 ERA and has made a good case to be named the American League’s starting pitcher for Tuesday’s All-Star Game in Seattle.

Of going to the Midsummer Classic, Cole said, “It's a special honor every single time I go and, honestly, it gets cooler and cooler.”

When asked about the starting assignment, he smiled and took a moment to respond.

“That's like a dream come true,” Cole said. “Earlier in my career, there's been Hall of Famers starting that game. The [Max] Scherzer-[Justin] Verlander matchup was so much fun to watch. And getting to get to see [Zack] Greinke and I believe [Clayton] Kershaw started one of them. To [see them] kind of go about their business behind the scenes is a great learning process for me. And just to see how deliberately the great ones go about their business. So it would be a huge honor to represent the organization.”

Cole has allowed three or fewer runs in 16 of his 19 starts — and two or fewer runs in 14 of those starts — and, after a short bout of trouble locating his slider, has had an impressive first half.

“It’s been a couple of good months — [I] grinded a little bit through one of them,” Cole said. `“But [I] gave us a chance to win almost every time out. So [I] feel really good about that and feel like we have a good foundation to go for the second half.”

Smyly had never lost in nine appearances against the Yankees, going 3-0 and pitching 43 2/3 innings to a 1.85 ERA before Saturday’s game. The Yankees made him throw 57 pitches — many high-leverage ones — during the second and third innings and he came out after throwing 85 in four frames.

That Donaldson took him deep in the second inning for a 2-0 lead really was no surprise. He was 10-for-20 with three home runs against Smyly before that at-bat.

“There's some guys that maybe you just see the ball well off of, and when they  make some mistakes, are able to capitalize off those,” said Donaldson, who golfed a low curveball 399 feet. “Sometimes when they make good pitches, you feel like you can put a good swing on it.”

By Roger Rubin

roger.rubin@newsday.com@rogrubin

Roger Rubin returned to Newsday in 2018 to write about high schools, colleges and baseball following 20 years at the Daily News. A Baseball Hall of Fame voter since 2011, he has covered 13 MLB postseasons and 14 NCAA Final Fours.