The Los Angeles Angels will attempt to win a series against the Houston Astros for the first time in nearly 25 months when the teams complete a three-game set on Wednesday night at Anaheim, Calif.
The Astros regularly have beaten the Angels since, winning six series and tying two others, including a four-game. season-opening split in Houston in March.
After Houston won Monday’s series opener, 5-4 in 10 innings, the Angels scored seven runs in the first two innings and sailed to a 10-1 victory on Tuesday.
Oswald Peraza had three RBIs and Jo Adell and Wade Meckler drove in two runs apiece. Meckler scored three times and reached base five times on three walks, one hit and once via error.
“We had a good approach as a team,” Meckler said. “Guys were being stubborn, looking for it in the zone and making pitchers work.”
Astros manager Joe Espada was OK with his team’s approach but it didn’t pay off when needed.
Houston had three hits and five walks in five innings against Los Angeles starter Walbert Urena but couldn’t score against him.
“One big hit,” Espada said of what the Astros needed. “And I thought that we were going to get him, just to get us back in the game. Drove the pitch count, we were really patient. But we just couldn’t get a big hit.”
Houston’s only run came in the seventh inning on pinch hitter Brice Matthews’ RBI single. The Astros were 1-for-8 with runners in scoring position.
It was a tough Tuesday on the injury front for the Angels.
During the game, Angels catcher Sebastian Rivero had two singles to give himself a streak of seven straight hits before injuring his left wrist while fouling off a pitch in the bottom of the fifth inning. Logan O’Hoppe replaced him for the final two pitches of the at-bat and he took a called third strike. with the strikeout charged to Rivero to end his streak.
Angels manager Kurt Suzuki said Rivero will undergo a CT scan on Wednesday.
Los Angeles first baseman Nolan Schanuel (left calf tightness) departed the game prior to the top of the fourth inning and is day-to-day. He was plunked by a pitch in the calf in the opening inning.
Before the game, the Angels revealed that third baseman Yoan Moncada (right knee) will undergo surgery next week and right-hander Jack Kochanowicz (torn UCL) will undergo Tommy John surgery.
Kochanowicz could be sidelined through the 2027 season while Los Angeles is in wait-and-see mode regarding Moncada.
“We don’t know the timetable,” Suzuki said of Moncada. “All I heard was he decided to get surgery and we’ll know more after it gets done. That’s the best answer I can give you.”
Left-hander Reid Detmers (2-5, 4.26 ERA) will be on the mound for the Angels. He is tied for seventh in the majors with 88 strikeouts.
Detmers received a no-decision last Friday when he allowed two hits over six shutout innings against the Los Angeles Dodgers in a 1-0 loss.
Two outings earlier, Detmers struck out a career-best 14 batters while giving up just one hit – a homer – over eight innings of a no-decision against the Texas Rangers in a 2-1 win.
Detmers, 26, is just 1-4 with a 7.63 ERA in 13 career appearances (10 starts) against the Astros. Jose Altuve is 7-for-21 with two homers and Jeremy Pena is 7-for-20 off of Detmers.
Astros right-hander Peter Lambert (5-4, 3.55) will look for his fourth consecutive victory when he takes the mound on Wednesday.
Lambert, 29, gave up five hits in each of the three wins. He beat the Athletics on Friday when he allowed one run over 5 1/3 innings.
Lambert has allowed two hits over 3 1/3 scoreless innings in two career relief outings against the Angels.
–Field Level Media
