The Astros snuck by the Angels Friday night 5-4, winning for the fifith time in their last six games. Zack Greinke (14-4), earned his 4th victory as an Astro in as many appearances.
Timely hitting and another effective outing for Greinke helped the Astros to their best start through 130 games in franchise history, at 83-47.
The win for Greinke is the 201st of his career. While Greinke (6.2 IP, 10H, 3R, 2ER, 0BB 1K) had to battle through some tough innings Friday night, he became just the 3rd pitcher in franchise history to get the win in each of his first 4 regular season startswith the Astros.
The Los Angeles Angels struck the first blow Friday night as Albert Pujols plated Kole Calhoun on an RBI single in the second-inning.
Despite the Angels plating another run shortley thereafter, making it 2-0, Alex Bregman made a dazzling play from shortstop on a weakly hit ball by Andrelton Simmons, flipping it to Jose Altuve in hopes of turning a double-play. The relay to first wasn't strong enough to nab the speedy Simmons, but the glove work from Bregman sent the crowd into a buzz.
Astros got something brewing in the home half of the third-inning. Jake Marisnick worked a leadoff walk, Josh Reddick, who was batting .321 vs. lefties this season entering play Friday night, singled to shallow center, putting runners on first and second.
George Springer followed and grounded into a double-play, moving Marisnick to third.
Altuve made Marisnick's patience at the plate pay off though, sending a 92-mph fastball from Suarez back up the middle, plating the Astros first run to trim the deficit to 2-1.
Unable to extend the ralley in the third-inning, the Astros started a new one in the fourth.
Robinson Chirinos extended his hit-streak to five games with a one-out double. Rookie third-baseman Abraham Toro, playing in just his second MLB game, legged out an infield-single for his first career hit putting runners on first and second.
Marisnick, who scored in the third-inning following a leadoff walk, drove in Chirinos with a single to center, tying the ballgame at 2-2.
In the bottom of the fifth, Bregman laced a two-out double down the left-field line, ending the night for Angels starter Jose Suarez who had allowed base runners in three consecutive innings.
Angels releiver Noe Ramirez came on to face Yuli Gurriel to try and keep the Astros off the board in the frame. Ramirez, fell behind in the count 2-0, before "La Pina" drove an elevated 89-mph fastball into the rightfield bleachers for his 26th homerun of the season, giving the Astros a 4-2 lead.
Greinke got into a little trouble in the 6th inning.
Shohei Otani reached on an error by Altuve, then the gritty Angels outfielder, Calhoun followed with a single before Justin Upton's fielder's choice plated Otani, cutting the Angels deficit to 4-3.
With an active Astros bullpen and runners on first and second with one-out, Greinke induced a ground ball from the speedster Simmons for a 1-4-3 inning-ending double-play, maintaining a 4-3 lead.
In the bottom of the sixth, the Astros were interested in getting the run back and rookie Abraham Toro was looking to make an impression.
Toro, leading off, notched his second hit of the night, another infield single. Toro, took off for second on a 1-0 changeup to Jake Marisnick, and apeared to have just collected the first stolen base of his career but Angels catcher Anthony Bemboom threw a strike to second, cutting down Toro who was the first of two victims in the inning for the Angels and Bemboom (threw Marisnick out at second moments later who had reached on a single to left).
Greinke, in more trouble in the seventh, had runners on the corners with one-out, facing Trout, got the two-time MVP to pop out to center.
Astros releiver Will Harris came on to face Otani with runners on the corners and two-outs in the seventh. Harris, climbed the ladder each pitch with Otani, striking him out on the 4th pitch of the at-bat, a 92-mph heater atop the zone.
The Astros continued to keep the bases busy as Altuve laced a one-out single down the left side. Moments later, following a pitching change, Bregman plated Altuve, sending a 1-2 splitter from Luis Garcia back up the middle for his second hit of the night, giving the Astros a 5-3 lead.
Hector Rondon was on to pitch the eigth for the Astros, Angels RF Calhoun took Rondon's first-pitch slider, 411 feet into the Astros bullpen, again making it a one run game at 5-4. Aside from that potentially big hiccup at the time, Rondon set down Upton, Pujols and Simmons in order following the blast from Calhoun.
Roberto Osuna, entering play Friday night, had gotten the save in each of the past four wins for the Astros, notched his 5th save in a row and 31st of the season.
Keep'em coming:
Michael Brantley extended his season-long hitting streak to 16-games (...
Zack Greinke (14-4, 2.83 ERA) opened the weekend, making his fourth start as an Astro won for the 4th straight decision since being acquired on July 31st.
Roberto Osuna, 24 years old, pitched a scoreless 9th inning to record his 31st save of the season. He's 3 shy of 150 for his career - he's on pace to become the youngest pitcher in MLB history to reach 150 saves (Craig Kimbrel 25 years old)
Up Next:
LHP Wade Miley (12-4, 3.18 ERA) vs. LHP Dillon Peters (3-1, 3.92 ERA) Saturday, Aug. 24 - 6:10pm
Collin McHugh "dodging bobblehead" night - first 15,000 fans.
