September 15 – Yordan Álvarez led the Houston Astros with a two-run homer in the fifth inning in a 5–3 win over the Los Angeles Angels on Saturday night in Anaheim, Calif., in the first of a three-game series between the American League West rivals.
Justin Verlander pitched five innings to give the division-leading Astros (80-68) their first win in more than three months after winning the first two games of the series. Houston is 4 1/2 games ahead of the second-place Seattle Mariners in the AL West.
The Angels (60-88) are trying to avoid finishing last in the AL West for the first time since 1999 but have lost four in a row.
Verlander (4-6) allowed two runs on four hits and walked two while striking out two in his first win since May 24. The 41-year-old, who missed more than two months because of a neck injury, is 0-4 with a 9.68 ERA in four starts since returning to the rotation on Aug. 21.
Verlander took the lead when Jose Altuve homered in the first inning, but Nolan Schanuel tied the game on an RBI single in the bottom of the inning. Eric Waagman then gave the Angels their first career hit by driving in two runs in the fourth.
The Astros took the lead immediately against Los Angeles starter Tyler Anderson (10-13), who singled to third off Altuve before Alvarez’s home run in the fifth inning. Jeremy Pena moved to second with two outs and scored on Victor Caratini’s single to give Houston a 4-2 lead.
Verlander, Hector Nellis and Caleb Ort combined to strike out the next nine batters and the Angels nearly tied the game in the eighth inning. Los Angeles got a run off Tyler Scott and then Logan O’Hop hit an RBI single off reliever Ryan Pressly to put the score on 12. Jake Meyers nearly caught a slip ball when he leaped and fired a shot at Schanuel who was trying to tie the game.
Kyle Tucker added a pinch-hit single in the ninth before Pressly threw a five-out save.
Anderson allowed four runs on seven hits in five innings, allowed three batters and struck out four.
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