One night after grinding out a 10-inning win, the Houston Astros never found their footing.
Kai-Wei Teng could not command his sweeper early, the offense failed to cash in against a wild opposing starter, and the Los Angeles Angels handed Houston a 10-1 loss Tuesday night at Angel Stadium. The Astros fell to 31-38.
Teng’s sweeper has been one of his most effective weapons all season, but it abandoned him from the start. He walked Zach Neto on two missed sweepers in the first inning, and the inning unraveled from there. A Jeremy Peña error extended the frame, and after Jo Adell worked a bases-loaded walk, the Angels scratched across two runs before Teng escaped further damage.
Things deteriorated in the second.
Five straight Angels reached base, and doubles by Wade Meckler and Adell turned a manageable deficit into a rout. By the end of the inning, Houston trailed 7-0. Teng completed four innings on 93 pitches and saw his ERA rise to 3.71.
“For the first two innings, I couldn’t really locate my sweeper,” Teng said through an interpreter. “And after I couldn’t really locate my sweeper, I kind of tried a bit too hard and it made the situation worse.”
Houston had opportunities but could not capitalize.
Angels starter Walbert Ureña issued five walks and needed 107 pitches to get through five innings, yet the Astros went 1-for-8 with runners in scoring position. Their best opening came in the third inning, when they loaded the bases with nobody out and came away empty.
Joey Loperfido, activated earlier in the day after a rehab assignment at Triple-A Sugar Land, struck out chasing a fastball above the zone to end the threat.
With the Astros trailing 7-0 entering the seventh, Joe Espada pulled several regulars, lifting Jeremy Peña, Yordan Alvarez, Christian Walker, and Jose Altuve as Houston continues a stretch of 15 games in 16 days.
“They’re playing every day,” Espada said. “So those guys need some rest.”
Brice Matthews delivered Houston’s lone run with a two-out RBI single in the seventh, but the Angels answered with three more in the eighth. Two Isaac Paredes errors helped extend the inning and pushed the score to its final margin.
A.J. Blubaugh and Alimber Santa combined to cover the final four innings and spared additional wear on Houston’s bullpen ahead of Wednesday’s series finale.
Peter Lambert is scheduled to start Wednesday as the Astros try to shake off Tuesday’s loss and take the series in Anaheim.
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