Angels overcoming difficultles in series with Astros
ANAHEIM, Calif. -- Mike Trout is hitless in his past four games, Albert Pujols is batting .213 in the month of August and C.J. Cron has two extra-base hits since Aug. 18.
Despite this, the Los Angeles Angels are still on the doorstep of the second American League wild-card spot heading into their series finale Sunday against the visiting Houston Astros.
The Angels pulled it together late on Saturday night and scored six runs in the final two innings to beat the Astros 7-6 and remain a half-game behind the Minnesota Twins for the final playoff spot in the AL.
"Our guys are always picking each other up and we keep battling back," Angels manager Mike Scioscia said. "The thing I like about this group of guys is, when we're not hitting, OK, we're not hitting, we're going to go play defense, we're going to go put up zeros and help us get back into this game and give us a chance."
The Astros still have a comfortable 12 1/2-game lead in the AL West over the Angels and Seattle Mariners, but they're 9-15 in August and haven't won three in a row since their first four games in July.
"We're a good club so, yea, it's uncharacteristic for us to lose," said Houston reliever Tyler Clippard, who gave up a three-run homer to Angels shortstop Andrelton Simmons that lost the lead in the eighth inning Saturday.
The Astros will look to right-hander Charlie Morton (10-6, 3.81) to turn things around. Morton needs one more victory to set a career-high win total, though the 10-year veteran has also dropped off of late, losing two of his last three starts.
He's 2-0 in his career against the Angels with a 3.24 ERA in 16 2/3 innings.
He threw five shutout innings against Los Angeles on April 17 in a 3-0 victory in Houston. Like the Angels had been doing lately, they stranded nine runners and were 0 for 7 with runners in scoring position in that game. Morton's only other scoreless outing since April 12, 2016 was when he blanked the Philadelphia Phillies over seven innings on July 25.
Morton spent the past nine seasons in the National League, so Pujols and Luis Valbuena have to most experience against him among the current Angels. Pujols is 5-for-24 with two doubles and Valbuena is 6-for-21 with no extra-base hits.
Ricky Nolasco (6-12, 5.05) will make his 27th start of the season for the Angels and Los Angeles has won four of his last five outings. Nolasco is 7-2 in his career against the Astros with a 3.63 ERA in 69 1/3 innings. He's is 1-1 in two starts against Houston this season with a 2.77 ERA in 13 innings.
Astros catcher Brian McCann, who came off the disabled list on Thursday, will likely be in the starting lineup Sunday. He's 25-for-73 in his career against Nolasco with nine home runs and 27 RBI.
McCann homered off Nolasco in a 3-1 win on June 11. According to Elias, that gave him the most home runs of any active hitter against any active pitcher.
