The Houston Astros completed a three-game sweep of the Chicago Cubs on Sunday at Wrigley Field, rallying from a 3-2 deficit with a five-run fifth inning to win 8-5.
Houston improved to 23-31. The Cubs dropped their eighth straight. It was the Astros’ second series sweep of the season, having previously swept the Boston Red Sox.
The fifth inning was the game. The Astros trailed 3-2 when Jeremy Peña, jammed by a fastball, muscled a two-run flare into shallow right-center to give Houston the lead. Christian Walker followed three pitches later with a three-run blast on a splitter that sailed 426 feet into the left-center field bleachers. It was Walker’s third home run of the series and 14th of the season.
Peña had also kept the Astros in it defensively in the fourth, spearing a 101.7 mph chopper up the middle off the bat of Michael Busch—a ball Statcast granted a .750 expected batting average—and spinning to throw Busch out as Lambert teetered with two runners on base.
The Cubs had taken a 3-1 lead in the second inning off starter Peter Lambert, who allowed three runs on five hits in five innings but settled down to retire nine of his final 11 batters on just 52 pitches. Among pitchers with at least 30 innings entering Sunday, only Cleveland’s Tanner Bibee had received less run support per nine innings than Lambert this season, per FanGraphs. The Astros had scored just eight runs total while Lambert was in games across his first six starts.
Jake Meyers and Nick Allen hit solo home runs in the second and third innings, respectively, to keep the Astros within striking distance. Allen’s was his first in the major leagues since April 25, 2024, ending a stretch of 490 plate appearances without one. He reached base in all four plate appearances Sunday—homer, two singles, and a hit by pitch—including a run-scoring single in the ninth for the final margin.
AJ Blubaugh worked two innings in relief before allowing a two-run home run to Michael Busch in the seventh that cut the lead to 7-5. Bryan Abreu escaped a shaky eighth, and Nate Pearson worked around a leadoff walk in the ninth for his first save of the season.
Shota Imanaga took the loss, allowing seven runs on seven hits in six innings.
The Astros travel to Arlington for a four-game Silver Boot Series against the Texas Rangers beginning Monday. Houston announced that Tatsuya Imai will start the opener and Spencer Arrighetti will pitch the finale Thursday. Mike Burrows will start one of the middle games, with the other spot potentially going to Jason Alexander.
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