Mauricio Dubon scored the go-ahead run on a wild pitch in the 10th inning as the visiting Houston Astros posted a 3-2 victory over the Los Angeles Angels on Friday in Anaheim, Calif.
Jeremy Pena went 3-for-4 with a home run, while Hunter Brown allowed one run on two hits across five innings, striking out four and walking two for the Astros, who won their eighth game in 10 tries.
Los Angeles’ Hunter Strickland (1-1) pitched the top of the 10th for Los Angeles, allowing Pena’s leadoff single before the Angels’ reliever’s wild pitch scored Dubon, who began the inning on second.
After Josh Hader (5-1) threw a perfect ninth for Houston, Bennett Sousa worked a clean 10th to secure the win and his second save of the year.
Yusei Kikuchi allowed two runs on six hits in seven innings, striking out nine and walking none for the Angels, who lost their second straight game after a three-game winning streak. Jo Adell and Christian Moore each homered for Los Angeles, which was without manager Ron Washington, who missed the game due to health concerns.
Houston jumped on Kikuchi out of the gate, with Pena smashing his 10th home run of the season to lead off the game followed by Isaac Paredes connecting on his 16th homer of the year to give the Astros an early 2-0 lead.
The Angels cut their deficit in half in the fourth, with Adell hitting his 16th homer of the year — a 426-foot shot — to trim the Houston lead to 2-1.
Shawn Dubin replaced Brown in the sixth, hitting Mike Trout with a pitch, striking out Taylor Ward and allowing Travis d’Arnaud’s single and Adell’s walk to load the bases. Bryan King then relieved Dubin, striking out Logan O’Hoppe and Luis Rengifo to end the inning.
The Angels pulled even in the seventh as Moore — last year’s eighth overall pick in the MLB Draft — hit the first home run of his career to begin the inning.
Reid Detmers threw a scoreless eighth in relief of Kikuchi. The Angels loaded the bases in the bottom of the eighth against Bryan Abreu, but the fourth Houston pitcher struck out Moore to preserve the tied score.
–Field Level Media
