Astros Can’t Overcome Angels Firepower, Succumb to Halos 6-4

Both the Astros and Angels boast high-profile firepower. Tonight, the Angels had more ammunition.

The Astros and Angels both went down quietly in the first, with Angels starter Patrick Sandoval working around an Alex Bregman single.

Hunter Brown survived the Angels’ half of the first after giving up a sharp leadoff single to Taylor Ward. Mike Trout lined out on a great defensive play by Chas McCormick, just back from IL. Shohei Ohtani flied out and Ward got caught stealing on a strong throw by catcher Yainier Diaz.

Hunter Renfroe broke the scoreless deadlock in the Angels’ second with a solo homer to left. But in the third the Astros put up a crooked number starting with a two-out single by Mauricio Dubon, followed aby a Bregman triple, a Yordan Alvarez double, and a Jose Abreu double, all resulting in three runs.

The Angels soon tied the score in the bottom of the third on an RBI double by Ohtani and an RBI single by Anthony Rendon.

But the Astros took the lead in the fifth inning on a David Hensley solo homer, his first of the year.

However the lead would not last long as Ohtani would double home Taylor Ward, who led off the inning with a double. One batter later Hunter Brown would yield the mound to Seth Martinez, who limited the damage with a double play grounder.

The Angels took the lead back in the eighth inning on a Brandon Drury triple off Rafael Montero, and expanded the lead to 6-4 on a Matt Thaiss sac fly.

Astros starter Hunter Brown had his second straight shaky start after winning his first four games. There was very little swing and miss in his game, as he allowed four runs and nine hits in 4.1 innings, with only three strikeouts. Rafael Montero allowed another multi-run inning in his appearance in the eighth, suffering his second straight loss in the last two innings in which he has appeared.

This is the Astros’ third straight loss, and it sends the Astros to below .500 at 17 and 18.

The Astros bring Framber Valdez to the mound tomorrow at 8:38 to stop the bleeding. He faces the big OH.

Box score HERE.