With a hot night complicating an already difficult schedule, Red Bulls coach Chris Armas turned to his bench. And it didn’t let the team down.

Playing the penultimate game in a grueling stretch of five games in 15 days, the Red Bulls rested five starters. But a reserve-laden lineup found a way to grind out a 1-0 win over Houston before 15,042 sweaty fans at Red Bull Arena.

For a team built on player development, it was a performance that will make sporting director Denis Hamlett and former coach Jesse Marsch proud.

“It makes me proud, but it makes our club proud. Denis Hamlett has to be happy, because he puts a lot of effort into that. He believes in young guys and he pushes,” Armas said. “[Red Bulls II coach] John Wolyniec should be feeling great. In the middle of the night [in Germany] Jesse Marsch has to be proud. This has been the push. This is who we are.”

In his first MLS start, rookie Brian White scored his first goal, and keeper Luis Robles made it stand up with his 10th clean sheet of the year.

The Red Bulls (17-6-4, 55 points) ran their unbeaten streak to a season-high six straight, and leapfrogged Atlanta atop the Supporters’ Shield standings. And they did it with a makeshift lineup.

“No matter who steps on there we have a lot of confidence that they’re going to do well, they’re going to do the job and they’re going to help us win,” Robles said.

With temperatures of 90 degrees at kickoff, Armas left Red Bulls all-time leading scorer Bradley Wright-Phillips, MLS assist leader Kaku, All-Star Aaron Long and standouts Daniel Royer and Kemar Lawrence on the bench.

Midseason acquisition Andreas Ivan got his first MLS start, teenage Venezuelan midfielder Cristian Casseres Jr. made his league debut and White, who had been scoring in the USL but made just one eight-minute cameo in MLS, made his first league start memorable with his 55th-minute winner.

“It’s a dream come true,” White said. “This is a level I’ve been dreaming of reaching, and to score on my first start in front of my friends and family I couldn’t picture a better night, especially getting three points at the end.

“You never know when you’re going to get your chance, and coaches came to me and told me they were going to bring me up. So I took it as my chance and realized I’ve got to do what I’ve got to do and try and help the team.”

Sean Davis sprayed the ball out wide to Michael Amir Murillo, and the Panamanian right back sent a low cross into the box. Houston’s Adolfo Machado made a sliding block, but Alex Muyl deflected it back to White for a backheel goal.

“He’s got a knack,” Armas said of White, adding of Muyl “Alex Muyl is a winner. There’s things that don’t honor the work he does that show up in the stat sheet. He’s a Red Bull Player, he gives everything to the team.”

Royer came on in the 65th for an injured Ivan, and Long came on in the 82nd to help nail the game down. Now the Red Bulls are 2-0-2 in this brutal stretch, which ends Saturday at Montreal.