September 14 – Alex Bregman hit a two-run homer and Yusei Kikuchi pitched seven solid innings to lead the Houston Astros to a Friday night win, as they beat the Los Angeles Angels 5–3 in the first game of a three-game series.
Yordan Alvarez had two RBIs and a home run in the ninth inning for the Astros (79-68), who improved to 5-6 on the month. Houston, the three-time defending American League West champion, leads the second-place Seattle Mariners by 4 1/2 games entering Friday’s finale.
The win was the Astros’ 5,000th win in franchise history.
Jake Neto and Nolan Schnoor had RBI singles in the third inning. Mudd and Mickey Moniak scored in the fourth inning for the Angels (60-87), who had lost three in a row.
Kikuchi (9-9) allowed three runs on three hits, walked six and walked two. He has won each of his last three starts since being acquired from the Toronto Blue Jays on July 29, going 5-0 with a 3.19 ERA in eight starts for the Astros.
Kikuchi, Bryan Abreu and Josh Hader combined to retire the final 16 Angels members. Hader struck out two in a 1-2-3 ninth inning for his 30th save.
The Astros scored twice against Angels rookie Samuel Aldergary (1-2) in Games 2 and 3. Victor Caratini and Jake Meyers had singles in the second inning, and Mauricio Dupont walked to load the bases. Jose Altuve doubled again and then Alvarez delivered a sacrifice fly.
Aldeghi had no outs in the third inning and Kyle Tucker singled before Bregman singled. Jeremy Pena hit a double and Caratini followed the rookie with a five-pitch walk.
Aldegary, making his third career start, allowed four runs on six hits, walked five and struck out none.
Bregman, Pena, Caratini, DuPont and Yna Diaz each had two hits.
Sanur had two hits for the Angels, including an RBI single in the third.
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