Cole aiming for 20th win as Astros face Angels

Gerrit Cole has been downright dominant over the last four months, winning all 15 of his decisions while helping the Houston Astros ascend in the standings.

Cole (19-5, 2.52 ERA) will look to extend his run of dominance in front of family and friends on Sunday as the Astros (106-55) play their regular-season finale against the Los Angeles Angels (72-89) in Anaheim, Calif.

The 29-year-old right-hander, who grew up in Newport Beach (Calif.) and lives in Santa Ana, is bidding for his career-best 20th win. He sports a 15-0 mark with a 1.78 ERA and 216 strikeouts in his last 21 starts (141 2/3 innings).

"Ultimately (wins are) a team stat," said Cole, who posted a 19-8 mark in 2015 while pitching for Pittsburgh.

"It's one of the things that I don't have as much control over as I think I do, but I'm as proud of it as probably any stat that I have. I'm looking forward to the opportunity."

Cole improved to 5-1 with a 2.79 ERA and 1.03 WHIP in eight career appearances against the Angels after posting a 2-0 mark with an 0.64 ERA in two starts this season.

Cole is coming off another sterling outing in which he scattered two hits and struck out 14 without walking a batter over seven innings in Houston's 3-0 win at Seattle on Tuesday. His strikeout total ballooned to a franchise-record 316, three more than J.R. Richard's tally in 1979.

The Astros have won 11 of their last 13 and secured home-field advantage throughout the playoffs after Justin Verlander became the 18th pitcher in major league history to reach the 3,000-strikeout plateau in a 6-3 win on Saturday.

"No matter who we are playing from the first round, second round or the World Series, having that one extra game at home is going to be beneficial to us," Josh Reddick said. "... As you've seen, we've been a better home team this year, so I think it's more of a comfort level for us."

Los Angeles left-hander Dillon Peters (4-3, 4.72 ERA) will attempt to keep the high-octane Astros in check when he makes the start on Sunday.

Peters posted his first win in over a month on Tuesday after yielding two runs on five hits in five innings of a 3-2 victory against Oakland.

The 27-year-old lost his lone career encounter versus Houston on Aug. 24 after surrendering five runs on six hits in 4 2/3 innings of a 5-2 setback.

Angels manager Brad Ausmus would like to see Peters follow in the footsteps of Juan Suarez, who allowed two runs on three hits in five-plus innings on Saturday.

"That's as good as Suarez has pitched all year," Ausmus said. "He was efficient. He threw up zeros for the first five innings."

Andrelton Simmons, who is 7-for-19 against Cole, belted a two-run homer on Saturday, but it wasn't enough as the Angels fell for the 24th time in their last 33 games.

Brian Goodwin also went deep for Los Angeles, which will look to avert its first 90-loss season since 1999 on Sunday.

--Field Level Media