The Houston Astros do not have 27 World Series flags flying around their ballpark like the New York Yankees. They have one from the 2017 season, and depending on who you talk to; the conversation will revolve around whether they deserve that one or not.

No, the franchise doesn’t have the history of the iconic players associated with their organization, the same as the Yankees. Nor have they gotten as much media coverage this season, even though they trail New York by only 2 ½ games for the best record in the MLB.

Yet, the Astros have been the more dominant team since 2017 and showed it once again on Thursday at Minute Maid Park as they swept the Yankees in a doubleheader to start the second half of the season.

“It’s huge,” said Houston Astros manager Dusty Baker when asked about taking two games from New York. “It’s huge for us to start out 2-0, to take our lead (A.L. West) back to double digits.”

Rookie J.J. Matijevic provided the spark the Astros needed coming out of the All-Star break with a pinch-hit RBI single with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning with the bases loaded to give Houston a 3-2 win in the opener of the split doubleheader.

“I am always ready to hit,” Matijevic said during his postgame press conference. “The one thing I am told is to always be ready to hit.”

The Astros used the spark started by their rookie at the end of the first game and turned it into an inferno to start the second game of the doubleheader. Designated hitter Yordan Alvarez made a roaring return from the 10-day I.L. with a 354-foot home run in the bottom of the first inning off Yankees starter Domingo Germán to give Houston an early 1-0 lead.

Third baseman Alex Bregman followed right behind him with a solo shot to left-center field to increase the lead to 2-0. It was the seventh time this season that Houston has recorded back-to-back home runs. Martín Maldonado and Jose Altuve were the last to do it earlier this month against the Los Angeles Angels.

“The guy hasn’t swung a bat against live pitching and hits it out on his first at-bat, he’s pretty awesome,” Baker said about Alvarez.

Bregman and Alvarez continued to torment the Yankees in the bottom of the second inning as Alvarez’s two-run double and Bregman’s RBI single put the Astros up 5-0. New York responded with two runs of their own in the third inning, and the game would remain 5-2 until the bottom of the sixth inning, when Chas McCormick’s two-run homer put Houston up 7-2.

New York slugger Aaron Judge cut the Astros’ lead down to two runs in the top of the ninth inning with a colossal three-run homer over the train tracks in left field off reliever Brandon Bielak. It was his 34th home run of the season, which leads the majors.

Bielak exited the game with one out, giving way to reliever Rafael Montero, who had pitched one inning in relief in the first game. After a Gleyber Torres single, Montero got Matt Carpenter to ground into a double play giving Houston their fifth victory in seven games over New York.

Houston won’t be able to bask in their victory over the Yankees for too long. They had to catch a late flight to Seattle to prepare for a weekend series against the Mariners, who are on a season-high 14-game winning streak.