Today we got Tyler Anderson versus Christian Javier.
The Angels and Houston were scoreless through three innings. The Angels had no hits. Both teams had a number of warning track fly outs. The Angels, to the surprise of no one, had four strikeouts in that span. Jesus Sanchez got one over the head of Bryce Teodosio for a double that was one of the three Houston hits. Jeremy Pena also doubled.
Mike Trout led off the fourth with a walk. Taylor Ward flew out to right. Trout advanced to second base on a wild pitch during Yoan Moncada’s at bat. Trout advanced to third on Moncada’s groundout. Jo Adell flied out to left to make Trout the Angels first LOBster.
The Astros loaded up the bases with no outs to bring up Yainer Diaz. A grounder to Moncada resulted in outs at third and home plate. I’m impressed. Moncada kept his head which is more than could be expected from Rengifo. Here is the rare Angels defensive highlight.
Now there were men at first and second with two outs. Cam Smith struck out.
The Angels failed even to get a hit in the top of the fifth inning. At least Niko Kavadas got the Angels third walk. The Astros failed to score in the bottom of the inning. It was still a scoreless game, folks. The Astros were still working a no-hitter. Christian Moore made a good catch.
In the sixth inning, the Angels did a couple more fly outs coupled with the second strikeTroutTM of the game. “Treasure Island” came in to pitch for Tyler Anderson. He gave up a leadoff single. Cam Smith got a two out walk and the runners advanced on a wild pitch. Mauricio Dubon grounded out to end the inning. This game is still tied at 0-0.
In the top of the seventh Yoan Moncada doubled and then Jo Adell singled to put men at first and third with no outs.
A fly out and a strikeout brought us to the point that Niko Kavadas could hit a pretty deep fly out to preserve the Astro’s shutout.
Luis Garcia came in to pitch. Jeremy Pena lined out for the umpteenth time to Bryce Teodosio and then Christian Moore put Yordan Alvarez on base with an error. Jose Altuve singled. Carlos Correa drove in a run with a jam shot to right field. 1-0 Astros. A four pitch walk loaded up the bases. Yainer Diaz popped out to end the inning.
The ghost of Craig Kimbrel came in to pitch the top of the eighth inning. He walked Luis Rengifo. Rengifo stole second base during Zach Neto’s at bat. Neto struck out. Then came StrikeTroutTM number three of the game. Taylor Ward walked to put men at first and second with two outs for Yoan Moncada. He also walked to load the bases. Taylor Ward hit a fly ball to center that was caught to end the top of the inning.
In the bottom of the eighth, Cam Smith walked. Mauicio Dubon sacrificed with a bunt. Bunt? Bunt? Bunt? What is bunt? Jeremy Pena singled. Then Yordan Alvarez hit a fly ball out that made it 2-0 Astros. What is this devil magic that produces runs without a home run?
In the ninth, Logan O’Hoppe, Christian Moore, and Niko Kavadas all struck out. Angels lost 2-0.
Baseball original photo credit: Rex Fregosi
