ANAHEIM — There are improbable wins, and then there is the magic act the surging Astros pulled off Monday night at Angel Stadium.
They rallied for four runs in the ninth inning, despite managing just one hit while sending 10 batters to the plate, stunning the Angels with a 6-4 win that was their sixth victory in their last seven games.
“Our team is never out of a game,” Astros manager Joe Espada said. “We have ways to fight and play you [for] 27 outs. We’ll give you a run for your money. That’s what we do.”
Trailing 4-2 entering the ninth, the Astros took advantage of two Angels fielding errors, two hit-by-pitches and two walks, including an intentional walk to slugger Yordan Alvarez with two outs that loaded the bases. The only hit was a Christian Walker single that followed a leadoff hit-by-pitch from Taylor Trammell as Houston improved to 3-48 when trailing after eight innings.
“Ten batters, one hit?” Trammell said. “I wasn’t even aware. Resiliency. It’s something that we hone in on, especially in our clubhouse. Just being a tough out at the plate. Make sure we’re seeing all the pitches, and pass the baton and go from there.”
Isaac Paredes was clipped by a pitch to force in Lucas Spence with the tying run, capping a nine-pitch plate appearance, and LaMonte Wade Jr. drew a walk to score Jeremy Peña with the go-ahead run. The sixth run came on a fielding error by pitcher Sam Bachman, who couldn’t handle Jose Altuve’s dribbler back to the mound.
“We saw a lot of pitches, had some big walks,” Espada said. “That’s what good teams do. We find ways just to stay in the game. You can’t find yourself in that spot without getting the performance we got from [reliever Cristian Javier]. Javy gave us a really good effort.”
Javier, who was moved to the bullpen after being activated from the injured list earlier this month, tossed five scoreless innings, striking out seven batters in an outing that was reminiscent of his heyday in 2022 and ‘23. He pounded the strike zone, throwing 50 of 70 pitches for strikes. It was his first time pitching since July 19 and the most pitches he’s thrown since a season-high 82 on April 3.
“I think he deserves a ton of credit,” Espada said. “He hasn’t pitched in a while, and goes five innings and punches out seven. He gave us an opportunity to win, and our offense is resilient. These guys fight. Just proud of our effort. We’re grinding through this, and I tip my hat to those guys in there. They love playing with one another and find ways to win this game, and that’s what good teams do.”
The Astros needed length from Javier and reliever AJ Blubaugh (2 1/3 innings, one earned run) after starter Tatsuya Imai failed to finish the first inning of a start for the third time this year. He faced only seven hitters, recording two outs while giving up two earned runs, four walks and committing a balk. He threw only 12 strikes in 33 pitches, and with a 5.83 ERA in 58 2/3 innings, it’s fair to question his status in the rotation going forward.
Espada wasn’t ready to have that conversation yet.
“When he’s on, his stuff is good and he can get people out, he can get swings and misses,” Espada said. “It’s premature right now to talk about that. I do want us to celebrate this win. There are a lot of things we did really well. We’ll come here tomorrow and look at some video and talk to him about some things, but I want to make sure we highlight what we did really well.”
Angels starter Walbert Ureña, who threw 12 pitches 100 mph or harder, was staked to a 4-0 lead in the third and responded by holding the Astros to one run and two hits in six innings. Trammell’s homer got the Astros on the board in the fourth, and an RBI single by Alavarez in the eighth cut the lead to 4-2.
The best was yet to come for Houston.
