Mike Trout homered twice, including a decisive blast in the eighth inning, and the Los Angeles Angels handed the Houston Astros a crushing 4-3 loss on Friday night that left them on the brink of postseason elimination.
Trout broke a 3-3 tie with a leadoff homer to right-center against reliever Bryan King (5-4). The two-time MVP now has 30 career multihomer games and 1,017 career RBI, passing Tim Salmon for second in Angels history behind Garret Anderson (1,292).
Kenley Jansen struck out the side in the ninth, finishing with a 10-pitch battle against Mauricio Dubón for his 29th save of the season and 476th of his career. That puts the 37-year-old just two saves shy of Lee Smith for third place on the all-time list.
Brock Burke (7-1) earned the win with a scoreless eighth inning.
Houston’s Christian Walker scored with a solo homer in the fourth, sparking a three-run inning. But Trout answered in the bottom half with his 24th homer, and the Angels rallied again in the fifth on back-to-back doubles by Christian Moore and Denzer Guzmán to pull within 3-2. Chris Taylor’s RBI single in the seventh tied the game before Trout sealed it an inning later.
The Astros (now one game behind Cleveland and Detroit for the final AL wild card) face elimination. Since both the Guardians and Tigers hold head-to-head tiebreakers, Houston must win its last two games and hope the non-division Central contender loses to extend its playoff streak to nine seasons.
Key Moment:
With the score tied in the seventh, Astros center fielder Zach Cole prevented a bigger Angels rally by throwing out Moore at third on Guzmán’s single.
Key Stat:
Trout has hit five home runs in his last seven games after managing just one in his previous 36.
Up Next:
Angels rookie RHP Caden Dana (0-3, 6.39 ERA) takes on Astros RHP AJ Blubaugh (3-1, 1.93 ERA) on Saturday.
