HOUSTON (AP) — The Los Angeles Angels aren’t where they want to be yet, but they’re closer than they were at the start of the week.
David Freese hit a go-ahead two-run double in a three-run eighth inning to help the Angels rally for a 6-5 win over the Astros on Wednesday to gain ground in the AL wild-card race.
Los Angeles took two of three in the series and is 1½ games behind Houston for the second AL wild-card spot.
“We’re staying focused, know what we need to do, don’t try to force it, just do our job and win series,” slugger Albert Pujols said.
The Astros are 2½ games behind AL West-leading Texas, which played later Wednesday in Oakland.
The Astros took their first lead of the game in the seventh, and the Angels trailed 4-3 entering the eighth. Mike Trout hit a leadoff double off Will Harris (5-5) before David Murphy drew a walk with one out, and Harris was replaced by Pat Neshek.
Freese’s double sailed just beyond left fielder Colby Rasmus’ reach on the warning track and made it 5-4.
“I started praying that the juice box was small enough for it to go off the wall,” Freese said, using a nickname for Minute Maid Park. “But yeah, I clipped it, and it just went far enough out of reach of Rasmus. So it ended up being good for us.”
Carlos Perez’s RBI single made it 6-4 and chased Neshek.
Trevor Gott (3-2) induced the last two outs of the seventh for the win, and Huston Street allowed one run in the ninth before retiring Jed Lowrie for his 40th save.
“We’re playing a lot better baseball as we made the turn into September than we did in August,” manager Mike Scioscia said. “I think that’s important. We’re doing a lot more things … that hopefully are going to put the game on our terms and then give us a chance to hold leads.”
George Springer had three RBIs and Carlos Correa added two for the Astros, who are heading into a pivotal weekend series with Texas.
“We’re taking a few body blows this month and we’ll respond favorably, we always have,” manager A.J. Hinch said. “It doesn’t make tonight any easier, but we’ll dust ourselves off and we know we have a big series ahead and we know we’ll need to play well to win.”
C.J. Cron drove in two runs in the first for the Angels, and Kole Calhoun hit a solo homer in the fifth.
Houston trailed 3-2 entering the seventh before pinch-hitter Matt Duffy legged out a single with one out and was replaced by pinch-runner Jake Marisnick. The Angels intentionally walked Jose Altuve with two outs before a triple by Springer to right field off Gott scored them both.
Houston starter Mike Fiers yielded four hits and three runs in 6⅔ innings.
Nick Tropeano, who was traded to the Angels from Houston this offseason, allowed four hits and two runs with five strikeouts in 4⅓ innings.
Via AP