Nick Allen homered, singled twice, drove in two runs and scored twice to help the visiting Houston Astros complete a three-game sweep of the reeling Chicago Cubs with an 8-5 victory on Sunday afternoon.
Christian Walker homered for the third time in two games and Jake Meyers also went deep for Houston, which has won four of five.
Astros starter Peter Lambert (3-4) allowed three runs and five hits over five innings. The right-hander struck out five and walked four.
Michael Busch homered and Pedro Ramirez delivered an RBI double for his first MLB hit and later scored in the three-run second inning for the Cubs, who have lost eight in a row and 12 of 14.
Chicago left-hander Shota Imanaga (4-5) endured his second straight rough outing, surrendering seven runs and seven hits in six innings, striking out six and walking one.
Imanaga started Meyers with a high fastball in the second inning and the center fielder lined it over the fence in left for a 1-0 lead.
The Cubs put runners on the corners with one out in the second, bringing up Ramirez, who was making his first MLB start after debuting as a pinch hitter in the 3-0 loss on Saturday.
Ramirez dropped a double into right-center field, just out of the reach of a diving Meyers, tying the score at 1-1.
Pete Crow-Armstrong followed with a sacrifice fly to give Chicago a 2-1 lead. Nico Hoerner then lined the next pitch into right field for an opposite-field single, extending the lead to 3-1.
Allen hit just the 10th home run of his five-year MLB career with one out in the third to cut it to 3-2.
Jeremy Pena came up with the bases loaded and two outs in the fifth and dropped a two-run single into center field to give the Astros a 4-3 lead.
Walker then came to the plate and launched a three-run homer halfway up the bleachers in left, extending the lead to 7-3.
Busch blasted an opposite-field two-run homer to left field in the seventh to trim the deficit to 7-5.
Allen gave Houston some insurance with a bloop RBI single in the ninth to make it 8-5.
Nate Pearson pitched the ninth for his first save since 2024.
–Field Level Media
