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Astros Avoid Sweep With Win Over Angels

Mike Trout and Pujols followed with hits off Gregerson (4-2), with Pujols driving in Calhoun to draw the Angels even.Cron added his fly ball to shallow center field that required a diving catch from Jake Marisnick, which in turn enabled Trout to score easily from third after a Gregerson wild pitch.The Angels piled on with five runs in the ninth to move within one win of completing a four-game series sweep on Sunday.The Astros (81-74) wasted another strong start from right-hander Brad Peacock by squandering a three-run lead that came courtesy of a George Springer RBI triple in the seventh and a subsequent run-scoring single from Yuli Gurriel.Peacock had filled in admirably for Astros left-hander Dallas Keuchel, surrendering four earned runs in three starts and 15 innings.

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Baltimore beat Arizona, keeping the Astros three games back of the Orioles with six games to play.

It was the third straight victory in this series for the Angels, who scored six runs in the ninth inning on Friday night to win 10-6. The Angels strung together five consecutive singles to turn the tables on Devenski, who struck out five batters in his first two innings of relief.

Wright (0-5) lasted six innings. He gave up three runs on seven hits while striking out four and walking two.

The Angels could not figure out Astros starter Joe Musgrove, who lifted Houston in more ways than one.

“This is not how we drew up the start of this homestand”, Astros manager A.J. Hinch said.

The Astros had established such a comfort in the reliability of their high-leverage relievers that little could prepare them for what unfolded on Friday night against the Angels.

An inning later, Gattis homered off a fastball by Daniel Wright, connecting for the 31st time this season. Trout is hitting.273 (3 for 11) with a double, a triple and one RBI against him.

“I just wanted to go out there and put up a zero, ” Giles said. The Angels were heading to the 8th down by three, and they’d need some heroics to walk away with the victory.

Kemp and White later added solo shots. “I just have to get better at going out there from the first pitch of each inning and be ready to go”.

“You want to play the game the right way”, he said. That was good to see, ” manager Mike Scioscia said. Houston closer Ken Giles injured his right wrist when he was hit by a line drive during batting practice Saturday. “Given that it’s a contusion, he’ll be all right”.

Angels: Jhoulys Chacin (4-6 5.26) will pitch for Los Angeles on Saturday. In the fourth, Albert Pujols offered up the first Halos offensive counter, with an RBI double, but it’d only put the score at 2-1, Houston advantage, and we’d stay that way for most of the game.

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Astros: Collin McHugh (12-10, 4.61) faces fellow RHP Hisashi Iwakuma (16-12, 4.04) to open a three-game series against Seattle.

Lisa Blumenfeld  Getty Images North America via Zimbio