For the second time in three nights, it would require extra innings. This time however, the Astros wouldn’t be as fortunate as they were 48 hours earlier in the series opener, dropping the finale to the Angels by a score of 3-2. Former Astro Jose Siri would deliver the final blow with an RBI single which brought home Nick Madrigal, who served as the automatic runner with the winning score. Bryan Abreu would take the loss in relief, allowing a pair of hits on only seven pitches.
The only good news of the night was that the Astros hit two home runs. The bad news, those HRs represented their only two hits before Alvarez and Walker reached base in the 9th.
With each passing inning, there was a sense that the season is slowly slipping away. 70 games now completed with a mark of 31-39. The Astros are again 8 games under the .500 mark, and questions continue to linger. Is this the Astros new reality? Are they destined to hover towards the bottom of their division? They sit in fourth place in the A.L West, having dropped three of their last four.
Peter Lambert delivered yet another quality start, striking out 6, but would exit in the 7th with an apparent finger injury that began to swell up on a comebacker.
Mike Trout, playing DH on this night, started the scoring with a solo shot to straight away center field in the first inning. It was one of only two mistakes that Peter Lambert would make, also allowing Logan O’Hoppe in the 5th to go yard with a blast to left. The Angels this season have now hit a combined 12 home runs off of Astros pitching in their 7 meetings. With the victory, LA has now won 4 of those 7 contests.
The Astros wouldn’t register a hit until Shay Whitcomb led off the 6th inning with a solo shot. The offense has been in hibernation in recent games, and on this night was dominated by Reid Detmers who struck out five of his first seven. Detmers would finish the night with 9 K’s. Whitcomb would be the lone baserunner that Detmers would allow.
Upon exiting, Cam Smith would take Chase Silseth deep for his 7th home run of the season to tie things up at 2.
In the 9th, Yordan Alvarez appeared to break a tie at home plate after an errant throw occurred off a Christian Walker double, but the call was quickly overturned.
As the contest unfolded, encouraging news came from Sugar Land where ace Hunter Brown went 5 innings, tossing 78 pitches with 7 strikeouts in what is expected to be his final rehab start. Brown’s fastball would register 98 MPH.
All signs now point toward Brown returning next week to face the Tigers on the next Astros homestand. Before that happens, Houston will next play three in Kansas City after an off-day Thursday.
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