A day before the Yankees asked Elmer Rodríguez to start against the Astros on Wednesday, pitching coach Matt Blake said that he had liked the recent reports he had gotten on the prospect.

“Sounds like he’s been attacking the zone,” Blake said. “The velo has been up a little bit on the sinker. He’s gone deep into some games lately. I feel like he’s held serve in Triple-A and continued to get better. Hopefully, we get him to attack the zone when it’s his turn here.

“It seems like when he struggled up here, he’s kind of flirting with the strike zone more than living in it. For him to be successful at this level, it’s not giving the hitters too much credit and attacking the zone early and being confident in his stuff.”

Blake’s assessment proved prescient on Wednesday, as the 23-year-old Rodríguez completed six innings while holding the Astros to three earned runs in a 9-3 win for the Yankees. One of the runs he allowed came on a ball that Trent Grisham got turned around on and dropped, and the righty also tallied three hits, two walks and six strikeouts over 88 pitches before exiting to an ovation in the seventh inning.

“I’m just trying to trust myself,” Rodríguez said, “and I know that I can go out there and compete. I know I have the stuff to do that.”

Rodríguez worked with a noticeable uptick in velocity on all five of his pitches Wednesday. His sinker topped out at 97.2 mph and was up 2.1 mph from his big league average this season. His curveball, meanwhile, was responsible for six of the 11 whiffs he recorded on the night.

“He was nasty. That’s what we get excited about right there,” Aaron Boone said. “That’s the electric arm that we know is in there, and I thought he threw the heck out of the ball.

“That’s by far the best stuff he’s had since he’s been up here with us.”

Rodríguez certainly looked a lot different — and better — than he did over his first four big league starts, which saw him post a 4.76 ERA without ever getting through the fifth inning earlier this season. But as Blake and Boone mentioned, he had been dominant at Triple-A, logging a 2.14 ERA over nine outings since his last big league appearance on June 21.

The increased velocity, as well as higher usage of his curveball, contributed to that. So did some of his big league hiccups earlier this season.

“He’s a young pitcher with a lot of ability, and I feel like he has gained a lot of valuable experience this year,” Boone said before Wednesday’s game. “He’s probably pitched his best baseball over the last month or so in Triple-A. The handful of starts he’s gotten up here have been valuable for him. Some have been a little shaky, but I’ve also been impressed with how he’s handled those and kind of navigated those where it hasn’t spun out of control, so he’s had a little bit of a presence to him out there.

“He’s got weapons. He’s a future big league starting pitcher without question.”

Boone has said some variation of that last sentence repeatedly since Rodríguez was in big league camp with the Yankees this spring, but the pitcher’s performance on Wednesday left one wondering how he could help the Bombers in the short-term.

The thought comes with the Yankees hoping to get Max Fried back from his second left elbow bone bruise of the season this weekend. The southpaw is scheduled to throw a bullpen session at Yankee Stadium on Thursday before a decision is made.

The Yankees could simply option Rodríguez back to Triple-A if Fried is cleared to return. They can keep Rodríguez built up as a starter in case their rotation suffers another injury, as they don’t have any rotation depth beyond him.

The Yankees may also need Rodríguez to make another start in the near future, and sending him to the minors means they can’t bring him back for 15 days unless there’s an injury.

Meanwhile, the Yanks’ bullpen is in rough shape right now. Fernando Cruz went on the injured list with a partial UCL tear on Wednesday, and the team signed Michael Fulmer, making him the second journeyman to recently join the Yankees’ relief corps alongside Justin Topa.

In theory, Rodríguez wouldn’t be a bad relief option down the stretch if he can harness the “nasty” stuff he displayed on Wednesday, though that would be unlikely and risky given the lack of rotation depth.

“I’m here to try to get as many innings as I could. I just go out there and compete whenever they ask me to,” said Rodríguez, though he doesn’t have any bullpen experience in the upper levels of the minors. “So whatever role they put me in, I’ll just try to help win some ballgames.”

Of course, Rodríguez would need some time to adjust to such a role, and the Yankees have other pitchers who are already working on that. That includes Clarke Schmidt, who is nearing a rehab assignment after Tommy John surgery, and Luis Gil, who has been at Triple-A.

Ryan Weathers, who hopes to return from a forearm strain before season’s end, and Will Warren, who hasn’t been sharp for some time, could also end up in the bullpen come the postseason.