ANGELS DEFEAT ASTROS

Bullpen blunders doom Astros as Angels win finale

Bullpen blunders doom Astros as Angels win finale
Angels defeat Astros, 9-7. Composite Getty Image.

Logan O'Hoppe hit a two-run homer with one out in the ninth to complete a four-hit game, and the Los Angeles Angels rallied for a 9-7 victory over the Houston Astros on Sunday despite Jose Altuve tying a career high with four hits.

After Kevin Pillar got aboard with a one-out single to left, O'Hoppe hit a slider from Josh Hader (3-4) deep to left field. Trey Cabbage tried to make a play on it near the short wall, but appeared to drop it as he went halfway over the wall.

Mickey Moniak and Michael Stefanic also drove in two runs apiece as the Angels avoided a series sweep.

Carlos Estévez (1-3) retired the Astros in the ninth to get the win.

Altuve also homered and drove in three runs. It was his first four-hit game this season and 39th of his career. His two-run homer during the sixth inning gave Houston a 7-4 lead before the Angels rallied.

Alex Bregman extended his hitting streak to 11 games with an RBI double in the third inning. He left the game in the bottom of the sixth after being hit in the left hand by Hunter Strickland's sinker in the top of the inning.

The Angels took a 4-3 lead in the fifth on Willie Calhoun's base hit that drove in Luis Rengifo. The advantage was short lived though as the Astros responded in the sixth.

Jose Abreu and Chas McCormick had RBI doubles before Altuve drove Hunter Strickland's slider into the rockpile in left-center for a two-run shot to give the Astros a three-run lead.

Moniak's base hit in the sixth drove in O'Hoppe to get the Angels within two runs before they tied it in the eighth.

Zach Neto had an RBI double, advanced to third on Ryan Pressley's wild pitch and scored on Stefanic's slow grounder to second to tie it at 7-all.

UP NEXT

Astros: RHP Spencer Arrighetti (3-5, 5.79 ERA) takes the mound on Monday for the start of a three-game set at San Francisco.

Angels: Open a three-game series at Arizona on Tuesday. LHP José Suarez (1-0, 6.54 ERA) will make his first start of the season.

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Jake Meyers is the latest Astro to be rushed back from injury too soon. Photo by Tim Warner/Getty Images.

Houston center fielder Jake Meyers was removed from Wednesday night’s game against Cleveland during pregame warmups because of right calf tightness.

Meyers, who had missed the last two games with a right calf injury, jogged onto the field before the game but soon summoned the training staff, who joined him on the field to tend to him. He remained on the field on one knee as manager Joe Espada joined the group. After a couple minutes, Meyers got up and was helped off the field and to the tunnel in right field by a trainer.

Mauricio Dubón moved from shortstop to center field and Zack Short entered the game to replace Dubón at shortstop.

Meyers is batting .308 with three homers and 21 RBIs this season.

After the game, Meyers met with the media and spoke about the injury. Meyers declined to answer when asked if the latest injury feels worse than the one he sustained Sunday. Wow, that is not a good sign.

 

Lack of imaging strikes again!

The Athletic's Chandler Rome reported on Thursday that the Astros didn't do any imaging on Meyers after the initial injury. You can't make this stuff up. This is exactly the kind of thing that has the Astros return-to-play policy under constant scrutiny.

The All-Star break is right around the corner, why take the risk in playing Meyers after missing just two games with calf discomfort? The guy literally fell to the ground running out to his position before the game started. The people that make these risk vs. reward assessments clearly are making some serious mistakes.

The question remains: will the Astros finally do something about it?


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