Houston Astros<\/a>, falling behind early has not boded well this season. Facing a seven-run deficit in the second inning, meanwhile, is nobody\u2019s formula for success.<\/p>\nOn Tuesday, the Astros stranded two runners in the top of the first inning against a control-challenged Angels starter. Their own starter struggled badly in his first two frames. The result proved too lopsided for Houston to overcome.<\/p>\n
Harnessing momentum remains a challenge. A spirited 10-inning win Monday night by the Astros gave way to a listless showing in a 10-1 loss at Angel Stadium. With the chance to climb within five games of .500, proximity they last enjoyed April 18, the\u00a0Astros dropped to 31-38.<\/p>\n
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Better pitching of late has carried their modest push. Kai-Wei Teng was among the arms who lent some stability to a reeling rotation. Tuesday, Teng endured a garish start. Ten Angels reached base in the right-hander\u2019s first two innings. Seven scored.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think the biggest problem is I was, a lot of times, behind in the count,\u201d Teng said through an interpreter. \u201cAnd I think facing this lineup you can\u2019t be behind in the count. It makes it difficult to pitch.\u201d<\/p>\n
His offense did little to counter. Walbert Ure\u00f1a also wavered during his five innings, but Astros hitters could not topple him. They totaled five hits on the night, all singles. Houston left 11 runners on base.<\/p>\n
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In an unusual sight, with his team trailing 7-0 entering the seventh inning, Astros manager Joe Espada emptied his bench and removed Jeremy Pe\u00f1a, Yordan Alvarez, Christian Walker and Jose Altuve all for pinch hitters. Houston is in the midst of a stretch of 15 games in 16 days, with the off-day Thursday.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re playing every day,\u201d Espada said. \u201cSo those guys need some rest.\u201d<\/p>\n
Brice Matthews, pinch-hitting for Altuve, struck a two-out single in the seventh that scored the Astros\u2019 first run. The Angels erased any kindling of a comeback with a three-run eighth against Alimber Santa, working his second relief inning after AJ Blubaugh had also worked two.<\/p>\n
The Astros are 8-26 when their opponent scores first. Monday presented an exception. Tuesday upheld the trend in ugly fashion.<\/p>\n
Houston
\nAB
\nR
\nH
\nBI
\nBB
\nSO
\nAvg.<\/p>\n
Totals
\n32
\n1
\n5
\n1
\n6
\n12<\/p>\n
Pe\u00f1a ss
\n3
\n0
\n0
\n0
\n0
\n1
\n.281<\/p>\n
b-Whitcomb ph-ss
\n2
\n0
\n0
\n0
\n0
\n1
\n.105<\/p>\n
Alvarez dh
\n2
\n0
\n2
\n0
\n1
\n0
\n.317<\/p>\n
c-Trammell ph-dh
\n2
\n0
\n0
\n0
\n0
\n2
\n.279<\/p>\n
Walker 1b
\n3
\n0
\n0
\n0
\n0
\n1
\n.249<\/p>\n
d-Price ph-1b
\n2
\n1
\n1
\n0
\n0
\n1
\n.200<\/p>\n
Paredes 3b
\n1
\n0
\n0
\n0
\n2
\n1
\n.240<\/p>\n
Altuve 2b
\n2
\n0
\n0
\n0
\n1
\n2
\n.237<\/p>\n
e-Matthews ph-2b
\n1
\n0
\n1
\n1
\n0
\n0
\n.208<\/p>\n
Smith rf
\n3
\n0
\n0
\n0
\n1
\n1
\n.220<\/p>\n
Loperfido lf
\n3
\n0
\n0
\n0
\n1
\n2
\n.262<\/p>\n
Meyers cf
\n4
\n0
\n1
\n0
\n0
\n0
\n.216<\/p>\n
V\u00e1zquez c
\n4
\n0
\n0
\n0
\n0
\n0
\n.237<\/p>\n
Los Angeles
\nAB
\nR
\nH
\nBI
\nBB
\nSO
\nAvg.<\/p>\n
Totals
\n35
\n10
\n11
\n10
\n6
\n7<\/p>\n
Neto ss
\n3
\n2
\n1
\n0
\n1
\n0
\n.232<\/p>\n
Walton 2b
\n0
\n0
\n0
\n0
\n0
\n0
\n.239<\/p>\n
Trout cf
\n4
\n2
\n1
\n0
\n1
\n1
\n.223<\/p>\n
Meckler lf
\n2
\n3
\n1
\n2
\n3
\n0
\n.340<\/p>\n
Adell dh
\n4
\n2
\n2
\n2
\n1
\n1
\n.243<\/p>\n
Schanuel 1b
\n1
\n0
\n1
\n1
\n0
\n0
\n.256<\/p>\n
Mancini 1b
\n2
\n0
\n0
\n1
\n0
\n1
\n.500<\/p>\n
Peraza 2b-ss
\n5
\n0
\n2
\n3
\n0
\n0
\n.272<\/p>\n
Guzman 3b
\n5
\n0
\n0
\n1
\n0
\n1
\n.000<\/p>\n
Siri rf
\n5
\n0
\n0
\n0
\n0
\n2
\n.324<\/p>\n
Rivero c
\n3
\n1
\n2
\n0
\n0
\n1
\n.245<\/p>\n
a-O’Hoppe ph-c
\n1
\n0
\n1
\n0
\n0
\n0
\n.200<\/p>\n
Houston
\n000
\n000
\n100_1
\n5
\n2<\/p>\n
Los Angeles
\n250
\n000
\n03x_10
\n11
\n0<\/p>\n
a-singled for Rivero in the 5th. b-struck out for Pe\u00f1a in the 7th. c-struck out for Alvarez in the 7th. d-singled for Walker in the 7th. e-singled for Altuve in the 7th.<\/p>\n
E_Pe\u00f1a (5), Paredes (5). LOB_Houston 11, Los Angeles 10. 2B_Meckler (5), Adell (9). RBIs_Matthews (15), Schanuel (25), Peraza 3 (21), Meckler 2 (12), Adell 2 (39), Mancini (2), Guzman (1). SF_Mancini.<\/p>\n
Runners left in scoring position_Houston 6 (Altuve, Loperfido 2, Pe\u00f1a, Smith 2); Los Angeles 5 (Guzman 3, Adell 2). RISP_Houston 1 for 8; Los Angeles 6 for 13.<\/p>\n
Runners moved up_Peraza. GIDP_Neto.<\/p>\n
DP_Houston 1 (Whitcomb, Matthews, Price).<\/p>\n
IP<\/p>\n
H
\nR
\nER
\nBB
\nSO
\nNP
\nERA<\/p>\n
4<\/p>\n
7
\n7
\n5
\n3
\n5
\n93
\n3.71<\/p>\n
2<\/p>\n
1
\n0
\n0
\n2
\n2
\n34
\n4.22<\/p>\n
2<\/p>\n
3
\n3
\n1
\n1
\n0
\n26
\n1.80<\/p>\n
IP<\/p>\n
H
\nR
\nER
\nBB
\nSO
\nNP
\nERA<\/p>\n
5<\/p>\n
3
\n0
\n0
\n5
\n7
\n107
\n2.44<\/p>\n
2<\/p>\n
2
\n1
\n1
\n1
\n3
\n35
\n4.54<\/p>\n
1<\/p>\n
0
\n0
\n0
\n0
\n0
\n6
\n5.06<\/p>\n
1<\/p>\n
0
\n0
\n0
\n0
\n2
\n12
\n4.76<\/p>\n
HBP_Teng 2 (Schanuel,Neto), Ure\u00f1a (Paredes).<\/p>\n
ABS Challenge_Smith (Strike-Confirmed); Ure\u00f1a (Ball-Confirmed); Teng (Ball-Overturned to Strike).<\/p>\n
Pitch timer violations_Santa (pitcher).<\/p>\n
Umpires_Home, Dillon Wilson; First, Ron Kulpa; Second, Manny Gonzalez; Third, Tom Hanahan.<\/p>\n
T_2:47. A_24,767 (45,517).<\/p>\n
A struggle for Teng<\/p>\n
Teng authored the worst of his seven starts since moving from the bullpen to the rotation. Walks have been an issue for the right-hander at times, but he awoke holding opponents to a .204 batting average and able to lean on a sweeper that had a plus-7 run value entering the day, per Baseball Savant.<\/p>\n
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Unable to locate the sweeper consistently, Teng created traffic and had to turn to his fastballs, against which the Angels did early damage.<\/p>\n
A six-batter stretch in the second inning cratered his outing. Sebasti\u00e1n Rivero lined a fastball for a one-out single. Teng plunked Zach Neto with a single. Mike Trout singled on an 0-2 fastball to fill the bases.<\/p>\n
Wade Meckler lined a sinker into left-center field for a two-run double. Jo Adell then pulled a curveball, not a pitch Teng throws often to right-handed hitters, up the left-field line for a double that drove in two more. Two swings turned a 2-0 lead into a 6-0 advantage for the Angels, who did not look back.<\/p>\n
Blubaugh warmed during the second inning, but with the Astros playing for an eighth consecutive day, it felt imperative for Teng to offer more length. He threw 93 pitches but only got through the fourth before the Astros turned to their bullpen.<\/p>\n
Teng threw 41% of his pitches in-zone, per Statcast. Angels hitters put 15 balls in play, 10 of which held exit velocities above 95 mph, the Statcast hard-hit threshold. Eight of those were against fastballs. Teng saw his ERA climb to 3.71 through 51 innings this season.<\/p>\n
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No breakthrough against Ure\u00f1a<\/p>\n
Ure\u00f1a, the 22-year-old Angels right-hander, has high-octane stuff. His sinker touched 99.8 mph Tuesday. He also entered the game throwing just 42.1% of his pitches in-zone.<\/p>\n
Against him, an Astros lineup prone to aggression employed extreme patience. Ure\u00f1a threw 46 pitches his first time through their order. Houston hitters swung at 13 of them. All but one of nine starters took at least the first two pitches of his first at-bat.<\/p>\n
The approach drove up Ure\u00f1a\u2019s pitch count. But the Astros could not cash in on the traffic they created.<\/p>\n
Ure\u00f1a walked two batters in the first inning. He also struck out three, including Altuve to finish the frame. A two-on, one-out chance in the second yielded nothing. In the third, Houston loaded the bases with no outs. Joey Loperfido, just reinstated from the injured list, worked a full count and chased a 97.9 mph fastball well below the zone for strike three.<\/p>\n
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\u201cOne big hit,\u201d Espada said. \u201cAnd I thought that we were going to get him, just to get us back in the game. Drove the pitch count, we were really patient. But we just couldn\u2019t get a big hit.\u2019<\/p>\n
That was the Astros\u2019 best chance against Ure\u00f1a, who completed five innings despite needing 107 pitches to navigate them. In the fifth, Ure\u00f1a issued his fifth walk of the night, to Altuve, with two outs. A reliever stood ready in the Angels bullpen. Manager Kurt Suzuki did not move from the dugout, giving Ure\u00f1a the chance to qualify for a win. Ure\u00f1a converted it, retiring Cam Smith on a pop-out.<\/p>\n
A messy first<\/p>\n
The Angels built a 2-0 lead and saw 29 pitches from Teng in the first inning without a hit. Teng got ahead 1-2 against the leadoff hitter Neto but lost him on a walk. After a Trout strikeout, Meckler sent a chopper up the middle, a potential double-play ball.<\/p>\n
Pe\u00f1a could not field it cleanly, his error leaving men on first and second with one out. Teng issued a walk to Adell to load the bases, fell behind 3-1 against Nolan Schanuel and yanked a sweeper that hit the left-handed hitter on the leg, forcing in a run.<\/p>\n
A second scored when Altuve bobbled his exchange on another possible double-play ball off the bat of Oswald Peraza. Teng stemmed the damage there, but the Angels exacted more an inning later.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"AJ Blubaugh was the only Astros pitcher who didn’t get scored on during a rough night for Houston’s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":356072,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[163,165,164],"class_list":["post-356071","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-anaheim","tag-anaheim","tag-anaheim-headlines","tag-anaheim-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/356071","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=356071"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/356071\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/356072"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=356071"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=356071"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=356071"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}