How the Angels won (09/12): Trout, Kendrick drive in four runs on way to 9th straight win
The Astros were not very good at baseball Friday night at Angel Stadium.
A seven-run fifth inning that saw three different Astros pitch to 12 different hitters helped the MLB-best Angels come back for an 11-3 win, their ninth-straight. With Oakland's loss to Seattle, the Angels now have an 11-game lead in the AL West and the magic number shrinks to just five.
It was a disastrous effort for Houston. Carrying a three-run lead into the fourth, the Angels scored two. Mike Trout scored all the way from second on a sac fly after a bad throw by center fielder Dexter Fowler and it set the tone for the rest of the game.
It's tough to imagine that this team ever struggled, but it was only about a month ago when the bats were barely tepid. But since then, they've won 15 of their last 17 games, matched their longest winning streak since 2004 and scored 81 runs.
"It's obviously a great time for it," manager Mike Scioscia said. "But right now, these runs are obviously very welcome. We need it to take the pressure off of our pitchers, give our bullpen the time to reset and hopefully these guys will keep it rolling."
C.J. Wilson (12-9) earned the win despite a somewhat inefficient start. His offense bailed him out, but Wilson threw 96 pitches over four innings before finally retiring the side in order in the fifth.
"I think he finally looked like he was committing and making some pitches better in the fifth inning," Scioscia said. "But starting off when you're sitting on almost 30 pitches after the first inning and then sitting on more than 40, you're up to 80 pitches quick and that's not good."
He finished with two runs (three earned) on seven hits, striking out six and walking three.
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Studs of the Game: Mike Trout and Howie Kendrick combined to score three runs and drive in four. Trout now has 105 RBI to tie Miami's Giancarlo Stanton for the league lead; and he become the first Halo to drive in 100 runs and score 100 runs since Vladimir Guerrero did it in 2004, his MVP year.
Duds of the Game: The Dud of the Game award has to go to the Astros fielders. Bobbled balls, closed gloves and an almost unwatchable defense cost Houston the game and likely made it into blooper segments of every major sports highlight show.
Key Moments: After Wilson finally had a clean fifth inning, the Angels came out firing in the bottom of the frame.
They hit, they took advantage of errors, stole bases and then hit some more. Trout tripled to drive one in and David Freese did him one better with a two-run home run. The Astros brought in a third pitcher just to stop the bleeding after the Angels batted around.
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"You never really want to talk about just flicking a switch but it's almost like it started to happen," Scioscia said. "We've just been hitting the ball. Every time a team has cracked the door open for us we've taken advantage of it."
Key Stat: It was the 45th comeback victory of the season, the most in the MLB and two shy of matching the club record from 2009.
They said it: Wilson might have needed some help from his offense but he got more than enough. It's as complete of a team as you'll find in September.
"Our team just has a lot of guys right now that can hit," Wilson said. "We don't have anyone that's hitting .375 right now but everyone seems to be kind of heating up together. And when you get a bunch of guys hitting with runners in scoring position like you did tonight, obviously you're going to put the right numbers on the board."
What's next: Friday's game marked the first in a 10-game home stand, the final one of the regular season. The Angels will face the Astros two more times before facing the suddenly surging Mariners in a four-game set.