Houston Astros vs New York Yankees Box Score on May 06, 2021

Jose Altuve celebrated his 31st birthday by hitting a go-ahead three-run homer with one out in the eighth inning, lifting the Houston Astros to a 7-4 victory over the New York Yankees Thursday afternoon at Yankee Stadium.

The Astros salvaged the finale of the emotionally-charged series thanks to Altuve, whose second hit of the day gave Houston a 5-3 lead.

The Astros had runners at first and third against Chad Green (0-3) when Altuve came up to another round of profane chants from the limited capacity crowd. After fouling off a fastball, the second baseman hammered a full-count fastball into the left-field seats.

It was Altuve's second homer of the season and first since April 8 against Oakland.

Yordan Alvarez hit solo homers in consecutive at-bats off former Astros ace Gerrit Cole as the Astros snapped a three-game losing streak. Martin Maldonado added a two-run homer in the ninth.

Giancarlo Stanton homered for the second straight game in the third and Clint Frazier hit a two-run homer in the fourth, but the Yankees saw their winning streak halted at five games and lost for the fourth time in 14 games since falling to 6-11 on April 21.

After Stanton homered off an advertisement in back of the Yankee bullpen beyond the center-field fence in the third, Frazier gave the Yankees a 3-1 lead by homering into the right-field seats in the fourth.

Cole allowed two runs on five hits in seven innings in his first encounter with the Astros since leaving Houston as a free agent after the 2019 season. He struck out four, walked none, marking his fourth straight start without issuing a free pass.

Houston right-hander Lance McCullers Jr. allowed three runs on six hits in six innings. He struck out eight and walked four, including three in the opening inning when he escaped a bases-loaded jam.

Andre Scrubb (1-0) pitched a scoreless seventh, and Ryan Pressly got a double play to end the eighth after allowing a base hit to Aaron Hicks. Pressly converted his fifth save by getting Stanton to hit into a game-ending double play that third baseman Alex Bregman made a diving stop on.

--Field Level Media