Ohtani hits clutch RBI double as Astros fail to sweep Angels

The Astros entered Sunday with plans of sweeping the Angels in a four-game series, but it didn’t happen as planned. Even though Houston enjoyed a good pitching effort from JP France, they couldn’t hit against opponent starter Griffin Canning and the other Angels’ pitchers. They lost 2-1 with two late runs courtesy of the Halos.

It was a beautiful pitching duel between France and Canning and it was only zeroes on the scoreboard until the Astros produced their lone run of the game. Yainer Díaz slugged his third homer of the campaign – Díaz also recorded his fourth double of the season and the Astros’ only two extra-base hits of the game.

France pitched seven strong innings in which he allowed three hits and one earned run plus one walk and three strikeouts. France’s only surrendered run came via a Luis Rengifo solo shot in the sixth inning to tie the game at one.

Then, Phil Maton came out of the ‘pen and Shohei Ohtani hit a go-ahead, one-run double. The Astros couldn’t come from behind against former Astro Chris Devenski and Carlos Estévez, who ended up registering his 14th save of the year. Maton got his first decision of 2023 and left his record at 0-1, 1.26 ERA.

On Monday, the Astros will head to Rogers Centre to begin a four-game set against the Blue Jays. At 6:07 pm CT, Brandon Bielak will face righty Alek Manoah. Gonna be an interesting series!

VIDEOS AND BOX SCORE HERE.