Rookie right-hander Chase Silseth remained unbeaten over his last four starts while Shohei Ohtani clubbed his American League-leading 41st home run as the Los Angeles Angels salvaged the finale of this three-game road series with a 2-1 win over the Houston Astros on Sunday.
Ohtani ended an eight-game homerless drought by drilling a 1-0 slider from Astros left-hander Parker Mushinski 448 feet to straightaway center field with two outs in the sixth inning, doubling the Angels’ lead to 2-0. Mushinski inherited a baserunner when he entered in relief of Astros starter Jose Urquidy (2-3) and quickly induced a double-play grounder before Ohtani struck.
It marked the first home run for Ohtani since a 5-3 loss to the Seattle Mariners on Aug. 3.
Silseth (4-1), who allowed four hits and two walks with five strikeouts over five scoreless innings, continued his resurgence since becoming a rotation fixture. He went 2-0 with a 2.04 ERA and 26 strikeouts in 17 2/3 innings over his three previous starts and maintained that stride Sunday.
Silseth retired the side in order in the first, worked around Chas McCormick’s single in the second and sidestepped trouble in the third despite surrendering a leadoff double to Grae Kessinger. He did so by striking out Martin Maldonado and inducing fly balls from Jose Altuve and Alex Bregman. Randal Grichuk made a diving catch in left to retire Altuve.
Kyle Tucker (double) and Jon Singleton (walk) reached against Silseth in the fourth but the Astros failed to convert those baserunners. When Yordan Alvarez grounded into a forceout with Altuve and Bregman on base to close the fifth, the Astros fell to 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position against Silseth.
Urquidy pitched well in his second start following a three-month stint on the injured list with right shoulder discomfort. He allowed one run on three hits and did not issue a walk while recording seven strikeouts over five-plus innings.
Urquidy surrendered a pair of doubles in the third, a flare to left field off the bat of Eduardo Escobar and an RBI double by Mickey Moniak to right.
Singleton scored on a wild pitch unleashed by Angels reliever Jose Soriano in the sixth inning to pull the Astros within one run, but the Angels’ bullpen was otherwise exceptional. Carlos Estevez followed Soriano, Reynaldo Lopez and Matt Moore and earned his 25th save with a perfect ninth.
Houston finished 0-for-8 with runners in scoring position.
–Field Level Media
