NEW YORK -- Christian Walker and Jeremy Peña clubbed home runs and Hayden Wesneski allowed one run in five innings to outduel Gerrit Cole and lead the Astros past the Yankees, 5-1, for a series win on Thursday night at Yankee Stadium.
The first-place Astros (67-67) moved one game ahead of the Rangers in the American League West standings with 28 games remaining. Houston, which has won five of its last seven games in the Bronx, will stay in the Big Apple this weekend for a series against the Mets beginning Friday at Citi Field.
Wesneski, who threw five scoreless innings against the A’s in his previous start Friday in Houston, carried a two-hit shutout into the sixth inning before he was pulled after giving up a leadoff double to Ben Rice, who wound up scoring on a Cody Bellinger sac fly.
That cut the Houston lead to 3-1, but Peña got the run back in the seventh inning with a long home run to left field off reliever Yerry De los Santos. The Astros built a 3-0 lead against Cole on an RBI single by Isaac Paredes in the third and a two-run homer by Walker (3-for-4) in the sixth. Walker doubled and scored in the eighth.
Cole allowed three runs, six hits and one walk in six innings, striking out five against his former club.