HOUSTON -- Following back-to-back losses in which their valuable bullpen appeared vulnerable, the Houston Astros were in need of a salvaging performance from right-hander Collin McHugh, whose recent work provided a clue that his dominance on Sunday was not unexpected.

McHugh pitched eight strong innings while rookie shortstop Carlos Correa doubled twice and scored a pair of runs as the Houston Astros defeated the New York Yankees 3-1 at Minute Maid Park to claim a split of this four-game weekend series.

McHugh (9-3) won a third consecutive start by limiting the Yankees (41-35) to one run on two hits and two walks with eight strikeouts. His lone hiccup occurred in the third inning when he walked the nine-hole hitter, Yankees shortstop Stephen Drew, before uncorking a wild pitch to center fielder Brett Gardner that advanced Drew into scoring position. Gardner followed with an RBI single for a 1-0 Yankees lead.

McHugh was dominant from that point forward, retiring the Yankees in order in the fourth, fifth, seventh and eighth innings. By closing his outing with a strikeout of Gardner, McHugh completed an impressive stretch where he retired 17 of 18 batters, with Yankees designated hitter Alex Rodriguez reaching via a two-out single in the sixth inning.

"He was fantastic, as dominant as we could ask him to be," Astros manager A.J. Hinch said of McHugh. "Had every pitch working, had his command. Had his high cutter, had his fastball, his breaking ball early was good, (and) the emotion at the end to finish in the eighth inning were all really good signs for him and something that was a great boost to our team and a tremendous pitching performance."

Correa proved to be the linchpin for the Astros (44-34), scoring on a double and an error by Gardner to pull Houston even with one out in the fourth. Correa lifted a fly ball to left-center field that Gardner and left fielder Garrett Jones converged on. At the last moment both outfielders pulled up, allowing the ball to drop. Gardner exacerbated matters by booting the ball to the wall as Correa rounded the bases on the miscue.

"It's something in practice we've gone over," Jones said. "But you can't mimic the noise in the crowd. You can't mimic the stadium, game speed. You want to catch the ball. You want to be able to get there, catch everything. Sometime you get so focused on the ball, you're calling it and not really listening on the other guy."

Leading off the seventh, Correa doubled to left field off Yankees right-hander Michael Pineda (8-5) and scored for a 2-1 lead when Astros designated hitter Evan Gattis tripled to left-center two batters later.

Pineda produced his first career complete game, allowing three runs (two earned) on seven hits with eight strikeouts in eight innings. He retired the first 10 batters he faced in advance of the first Correa double and finished with 106 pitches on his ledger, including 71 for strikes.

"I thought he had good stuff from the beginning," Yankees manager Joe Girardi said of Pineda. "I thought all three pitches were effective today and it's unfortunate because he pitched a really good game. Most days we're going to score more runs than that and he's going to win."

Left fielder Preston Tucker scored on a sacrifice fly by catcher Jason Castro in the eighth. Houston closer Luke Gregerson got his 18th save with a perfect ninth, affixing a bow on a splendidly pitched game by all.

"We had a good game plan," McHugh said. "Jason did a really good job back there behind the dish. I think having seen the guys for a couple of days and I had them the fourth game of the series, I think works in our favor. Being able to know the hitters a little bit, know their tendencies, what they're trying to do, what they're not trying to do."

NOTES: The Astros recalled RHP Michael Feliz from Double-A Corpus Christi. Feliz made one appearance with the team earlier this season, allowing one hit while recording one strikeout in one inning of work against the White Sox on May 31. He replaced LHP Brett Oberholtzer, who was optioned to Triple-A Fresno on Saturday night. ... The Yankees selected RHP Esmil Rogers from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre and optioned INF Gregorio Petit to Triple-A. Rogers is 1-1 with a 6.27 ERA in 18 appearances with the Yankees this season. ... Astros RHP Scott Feldman will throw a simulated game on Tuesday or Wednesday and is likely to be sent on a rehab assignment depending upon the results. Feldman was placed on the 15-day disabled list on May 27 following surgery on his torn right medial meniscus.