For eight innings, this game belonged to the Angels. Then the ninth inning arrived, and Houston turned a two-run deficit into a 6-4 win, scoring four times while Los Angeles' defense unraveled behind it.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| HOU | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 6 | 5 | 1 |
| LAA | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 6 | 2 |
Angels starter Walbert Urena did his part to make it stand up. He worked 6.0 innings, allowing just 1 run (1 earned) on 2 hits with 5 strikeouts and 2 walks, carrying a 2.70 ERA into the night. It was the kind of outing that usually wins games. Instead, Urena was left with a no-decision as the bullpen surrendered the lead late.
The Angels built their cushion early. Nolan Schanuel's sacrifice fly scored Zach Neto in the first, and Vaughn Grissom's single brought home Mike Trout in the same inning. Grissom added a home run to left center in the third, and Jo Adell's double scored Josh Lowe to make it 0-4. Houston got one back in the fourth when Taylor Trammell homered to center, and another in the eighth on Yordan Alvarez's single that drove in Jeremy Peña, cutting the deficit to 2-4.
The ninth inning broke the game open. Lucas Spence reached on a fielder's choice as Trammell scored on an error, with the throw also allowing Nick Allen to advance on a separate error by second baseman Grissom. Isaac Paredes was hit by a pitch to tie it at 4-4, then LaMonte Wade's walk drove in Peña for the go-ahead run. Alvarez scored the sixth Houston run of the frame after Jose Altuve reached on a fielding error by pitcher Sam Bachman, sealing the 6-4 final.
Cristian Javier picked up his first win of the season for Houston, working 5.0 scoreless innings with 3 hits allowed, no walks and 7 strikeouts, though he carries a 7.17 ERA. Josh Hader closed it out with a scoreless inning for his 13th save despite issuing 2 walks. Jose Fermin took the loss for Los Angeles, recording just one out while allowing 3 runs (1 earned) on a hit. Houston improved to 53-55, snapping an offensive stretch with a fresh W1 mark, while the Angels fell to 42-65 on the L1 skid.