Houston wins fourth in a row

Meyers displays his power as Astros secure series over Angels

Chris Campise
Aug 14, 2021, 11:46 pm
Jake Meyers had his first and second homers of his career on Saturday, including a grand slam. Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images

Riding a three-game winning streak into Saturday's middle game with the Angels, the Astros sought to continue their momentum to lock up another series win. Jake Meyer's would provide a breakout game at the plate, helping them get there.

Final Score: Astros 8, Angels 2

Astros' Record: 70-46, first in the AL West

Winning Pitcher: Luis Garcia (9-6)

Losing Pitcher: Jaime Barria (2-1)

Garcia gives up two runs early but leaves in line for the win

Shohei Ohtani, who had the only RBI for the Angels in Friday's opener, wasted no time getting one in this game. After Houston's scoreless top of the first inning, Ohtani gave LA a 1-0 advantage in the bottom half by blasting a leadoff shot against Luis Garcia, his 39th of the season, extending his lead over the league. Garcia would give up another run two batters later, giving up three straight hits to start the game in a 2-0 hole.

He rebounded well, despite dealing with traffic throughout the night. Thanks to his offense backing him up, he would leave in position for the win by making it through five frames while allowing just those two runs in the first inning. His final line: 5.0 IP, 6 H, 2 ER, 3 BB, 5 K, 1 HR, 87 P.

Meyers shows off his power as Houston blows it open

The reason he left in that position was due to a big third inning by Houston's offense. It started with Jake Meyer's first career homer, a one-out solo homer. The following two batters reached and set up a sac fly by Carlos Correa and a go-ahead RBI-double by Yordan Alvarez, making it a three-run inning to put the Astros in front 3-2.

They kept putting pressure on LA's arms, and in the top of the fifth, after Michael Brantley reached base by being hit by a pitch, Alvarez would get his second RBI of the night on another double to extend the lead to 4-2. Houston blew it open in the next inning, putting the first three batters on base with two walks and a single, bringing Meyers back to the plate, who launched his second homer, this one a grand slam to double his team's lead to 8-2.

Astros secure the series

After Garcia, Brooks Raley was first out of Houston's bullpen in the bottom of the sixth, making his first appearance since August 4th. He looked sharp, sitting down the three batters he faced for a 1-2-3 inning. Blake Taylor had the bottom of the seventh, working around a leadoff single to maintain the six-run lead.

Phil Maton was the fourth pitcher of the night, and he erased a walk and a single to keep the score where it was going to the ninth. Yimi Garcia took over in the bottom of the ninth and wrapped up the win for Houston, their fourth in a row, including the first two of this three-game set to secure the series.

Up Next: The finale of this three-game set will get underway at 3:07 PM Central on Sunday. Lance McCullers Jr. (9-3, 3.22 ERA) will be on the mound for the Astros, going opposite Reid Detmers (0-2, 10.61 ERA), making his third career start for the Angels.

From Your Site Articles
Related Articles Around the Web
astrosastros scoreastros recapastros vs angelsangels recapangels scoreangelsmlbmlb scoresmlb recapsshohei ohtanijake meyers

Most Popular

SportsMap Emails
Are Awesome

Listen Live

ESPN Houston 97.5 FM

TRAINING CAMP WATCH

Inside Texans Training Camp: Updates from Aug 6th

Here's why the Texans will make the playoffs under Lovie Smith

1. The Houston Texans had a mentally tough practice Saturday. The team has worked a lot in pads and Lovie Smith noted the days starting to build up on them during this practice. The head coach said this is a good practice because it is like the fourth quarter of the games the team will end up playing.

2. Davis Mills threw one of the best passes he has thrown all camp on Saturday. In a red zone drill, he dropped back and whipped a pass between two defenders into the tightest window he has had all camp. Nico Collins hauled in the threaded pass for a score.

3. A few reps later Davis Mills struck again. With traffic from linebackers and defensive backs, he found Chris Conley for a score. It wasn’t as tight of a window as the first one, but Mills snapped it off nonetheless.

4. Pharaoh Brown made something hard look very easy on Saturday. With Mills rolling out and tossing the ball to Brown in the back corner Brown hauled in a one-handed catch and had both feet down. Touchdown. Brown then acted like it was no big deal.

5. Pharaoh Brown has had a wonderful camp. Lovie Smith named him the starting tight end. The thing that really jumped out to me today is he makes his work look easy. He isn’t straining to excel in his opportunities. The good ones always make it look easy and it has looked easy for Brown so far.

6. Rookie linebacker Christian Harris is on the shelf for a few days. He joins fellow rookie Kenyon Green as players who are injured. Max Scharping played left guard with Green down. Wide receiver Phillip Dorset practiced while veteran wideout Chester Rodgers did not.

7. Roy Lopez flashed again today. While Friday was about the rushing attack and Lopez made his presence felt at defensive tackle, he got into the pass rush Saturday. Lopez would have had a bone-crushing sack in a live rep.

8. Ross Blacklock hasn’t been consistent. A statement like that is good and evil. There are some plays where Blacklock looks like he isn’t a factor. I watched one today. A play later he had what would have been a sack on the play. He’s a player to watch in the preseason games closely.

9. Don’t expect to see Derek Stingley in the preseason opener next Saturday. Lovie Smith wouldn’t commit to the rookie cornerback playing in the preseason. Smith did say Stingley is on track to play week one in the regular season.

10. Brevin Jordan has had a nice camp and should be an important piece for the team. Jordan had a bad drop in 7-on-7 drills that he was beating himself up over for a few minutes. That was out of the norm. He’s been used a lot and will be on the field a bit it seems for the Texans.

11. Brevin Jordan also rattled off a few contenders for the quote of the day. He exclaimed he had taken care of himself this offseason and he finally had abs. He also revealed he’s quite the fisherman and once caught a 125-pound tuna. When asked what he did with the tuna Jordan laughed and said “RIP tuna!”

Listen to Cody Stoots weekdays afternoons 3-7pm on his show "The Wheelhouse" live on ESPN 97.5 + 92.5 FM or anytime on demand at the podcast here.

texanshouston texansnfl

SportsMap Emails
Are Awesome