Masahiro Tanaka tossed six solid innings but missed out on his second win of the season as the New York Yankees fell 4-3 to the Houston Astros in the American League on Monday.

The 30-year-old Japanese right-hander, who is 1-0 in three starts this year, held the Astros to a run on three hits and two walks at Minute Maid Park, but lefty reliever Zack Britton squandered the Yankees' 3-1 lead.

In the fourth, Tanaka gave up a game-tying solo homer to Jose Altuve and issued a walk, but a double play limited the damage. He shut down the inning with his third and final strikeout of the game.

Aaron Judge went deep against Justin Verlander in the fifth to put the Yankees back on top, and Clint Frazier extended the lead with an RBI single in the sixth.

Tanaka gave up a double and issued another walk in the bottom of the inning, but coaxed three straight outs before his exit to keep the Yankees' lead intact.

"I think I pitched well overall," Tanaka said.

"I got lucky when potential extra base hits turned into outs. I was hoping to outperform (Altuve when I faced him in a no-out, two-on situation in the sixth)," he said.

In the seventh, Britton allowed the Astros to tie on a two-run double from Robinson Chirinos, and an inning later Carlos Correa drove in the go-ahead run for the Astros when he singled off Adam Ottavino (1-1).

Verlander struck out six and gave up three runs on seven hits and two walks in six innings of work. Ryan Pressly (1-0) got the win for pitching a perfect eighth.

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