Jason Heyward went 3-for-3 with a home run and two RBIs to help the Houston Astros sweep the Los Angeles Angels with a 6-4 win on Sunday in Anaheim, Calif.
Houston starting pitcher Ronel Blanco (11-6) held Los Angeles scoreless on four hits and struck out five over six innings.
The Astros (81-68) have won four straight, while the Angels (60-89) dropped their fifth in a row.
Los Angeles trailed 6-0 in the eighth before Taylor Ward got the Angels on the board with a solo home run in the bottom of the frame, mashing his 24th home run of the season 420 feet off Kaleb Ort to the center field seats.
The Angels narrowed the deficit further in the ninth. Reliever Caleb Ferguson walked Logan O’Hoppe to lead it off, then Mickey Moniak was hit by a pitch and Jordyn Adams hit a one-out single to load the bases.
Ferguson was then replaced by closer Josh Hader.
O’Hoppe scored on Gustavo Campero’s groundout to cut it to 6-2 and Charles Leblanc’s single drove in Moniak and Adams to pull the Angels within two. But Hader struck out Zach Neto for the save.
Angels starter Caden Dana (1-2), making his third start in the majors, was perfect through the first two innings before Heyward’s leadoff homer gave the Astros a 1-0 lead.
Dana struggled in the fourth inning, and the Astros capitalized.
Kyle Tucker drew a leadoff walk, Victor Caratini followed with a double and Jeremy Pena drove in Tucker with a single to double Houston’s lead. Then, with runners on the corners and nobody out, Heyward knocked a single that brought Caratini home to make it 3-0.
Pena, who went 2-for-4, pushed it to 4-0 when he scored on a passed ball by O’Hoppe with Jake Meyers at the plate. Mauricio Dubon singled to left field, scoring Heyward for a 5-0 advantage.
That ended the 20-year-old Dana’s outing, finishing with five runs allowed on five hits in 3 1/3 innings.
The Astros added another run in the eighth when Meyers drove in Pena with a single.
Eric Wagaman and Nolan Schanuel each went 2-for-4 for the Angels.
–Field Level Media
