After a surprisingly quiet offensive day that resulted in a loss to Oakland the day prior to end their winning streak, the Astros welcomed in the Yankees to Minute Maid Park to try and have success in their last series before the All-Star break. Instead, they would have similar offensive struggles, with the Yankees getting a shutout win to start the three-game set.

Final Score: Yankees 4, Astros 0

Astros' Record: 54-35, first in the AL West

Winning Pitcher: Lucas Luetge (3-1)

Losing Pitcher: Jake Odorizzi (3-4)

Yankees tag Odorizzi with two runs

After three scoreless innings to start the series, New York would put the first runs on the scoreboard against Jake Odorizzi in the top of the fourth. The Yankees notched three hits that inning: a one-out single, two-out single, then a two-out two-RBI double to give them the 2-0 lead. That did it for the scoring as far as the starting pitchers were concerned with New York's Nestor Cortes going four and two-thirds innings while holding Houston at bay, and Odorizzi finishing six. Odorizzi's final line, which despite being a quality start still had him in line for the loss: 6.0 IP, 7 H, 2 ER, 0 BB, 4 K, 0 HR, 103 P.

Astros shutout in the opener

With Odorizzi's night done, Bryan Abreu was first out of Houston's bullpen, looking to repeat the success he had in his first start off of the IL on July 6th when he gave his team two scoreless frames. It would not go as well, however, as he would give up a one-out walk followed by a double to set up a two-RBI double to double New York's lead at 4-0. Brandon Bielak would ultimately come in to finish the inning, while Houston tried to get on the board themselves against the Yankees' relievers.

No runs would come for Houston in the bottom of the seventh, then Bielak remained on the mound for a scoreless top of the eighth, then returned with the score still stuck at 4-0 in the top of the ninth. He kept it a four-run game, completing 2.2 impressive innings of scoreless relief, but Houston's offense would not get anything done in the bottom of the ninth, suffering the shutout loss to start the series.

Up Next: The middle game of this three-game series will get underway at 6:15 PM Central on Saturday. Former-Astro Gerrit Cole (8-4, 2.91 ERA) will make his first start in Houston since leaving the team after the 2019 season, going opposite Zack Greinke (8-2, 3.64 ERA).