The Houston Astros’ struggling offense found another low Tuesday night.
Houston managed just three hits in a 3-1 loss to the Los Angeles Angels at Daikin Park, dropping the Astros back to .500 at 63-63 and wasting an opportunity against a division opponent that entered the night 49-76.
Cristian Javier kept the Angels off the board for the first two innings, striking out three, but Los Angeles broke through with two outs in the third. Wade Meckler singled, stole second, and scored on Nolan Schanuel’s RBI single to give the Angels a 1-0 lead.
Josh Lowe made it 2-0 in the fourth, sending Javier’s two-out offering over the wall in left for his 10th home run of the season.
Javier’s night ended after four innings. The right-hander allowed two runs on five hits and one walk while striking out five. He fell to 1-4 with a 6.44 ERA.
The Angels added their third run in the fifth. Bryan King retired the first two batters before allowing a single to Schanuel, and Enyel De Los Santos entered and surrendered an RBI double to Zach Neto.
Three runs should have left the Astros with a chance. Instead, George Klassen shut down an offense that has been struggling to generate much of anything.
Houston’s best early opportunity came in the first inning when Isaac Paredes walked and Jose Altuve singled to put runners at the corners with two outs. Daulton Varsho struck out to strand them, and the Astros did not record another hit for six innings.
Klassen shut Houston out over seven innings, allowing one hit and three walks while striking out seven.
Cam Smith finally broke through against José Fermin in the eighth, leading off the inning with his 17th home run of the season to cut the Angels’ lead to 3-1. Yainer Diaz followed with a single, giving the Astros their first real opening since the first inning.
“Our bats got better toward the end,” manager Joe Espada said. The improvement proved brief. Jeremy Peña grounded into a forceout, Yordan Alvarez struck out looking, and Paredes flied out to end the inning.
Houston’s bullpen kept the game within reach. De Los Santos retired all four batters he faced after Neto’s double, AJ Blubaugh worked two scoreless innings, and Miguel Ullola struck out two in a perfect ninth.
But the offense had nothing left. Ben Joyce struck out Altuve to begin the bottom of the ninth, Varsho flied out, and Christian Walker struck out swinging to end the game.
The Astros finished with three hits—Altuve’s first-inning single, Smith’s home run, and Diaz’s eighth-inning single—and struck out 10 times. Alvarez went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts, while Peña, Varsho, Walker, and Taylor Trammell combined to go 0-for-15 with six strikeouts.
The loss was particularly costly given the opponent and Houston’s position in the standings. The Astros entered the series needing to take advantage of a struggling Angels team, but instead fell back to .500 at 63-63. Texas beat Washington 5-0 on Tuesday to move within a half-game of Houston in the AL West. The Astros did get some help from Milwaukee, which handed Seattle an astonishing 22-0 loss, keeping the Mariners 4½ games behind Houston.
Ethan Pecko will make his Major League debut Wednesday as Houston tries to even the series, facing Angels right-hander Walbert Ureña at Daikin Park. First pitch is at 7:10 p.m. Central.
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