Jon Singleton slapped a two-run, two-out double into center field in the bottom of the eighth inning and the Houston Astros remained unbeaten in nine games started by Yusei Kikuchi by claiming the opener of a four-game series with the Los Angeles Angels 3-1 on Thursday.
Singleton capped a rally against Angels reliever Ryan Miller (0-1) by lining a 1-2 sweeper to center field. Yordan Alvarez — who worked a leadoff walk — and Yainer Diaz scored on the play to snap a 1-1 deadlock.
Hector Neris, Bryan Abreu (3-3) and Josh Hader — who notched his 32nd save — worked a scoreless inning each as the Astros (83-70) reduced their magic number to clinch the American League West to five games.
Shackled by Angels left-hander Jose Suarez, who made his second start this season, the Astros relied on the errant defense of Angels third baseman Eric Wagaman to rally from a 1-0 deficit.
Wagaman committed three errors, including two on a Jeremy Pena grounder leading off the second. Suarez pitched around that miscue but when Diaz reached on a Wagaman fielding error to open the fourth, Suarez wasn’t quite as fortunate. He surrendered consecutive singles to Pena and Victor Caratini, with the second hit driving home Diaz and tying the game.
Suarez allowed one unearned run on three hits and two walks with five strikeouts in five innings.
It was an inauspicious first inning for Kikuchi, who surrendered a leadoff home run to Angels left fielder Taylor Ward, his fifth leadoff homer in his last 19 games. Ward became the first Angels player since Mike Trout in 2012 to record five leadoff home runs in a season, as his 25th homer carried 416 feet to left-center and spotted the Angels a 1-0 lead.
Kikuchi surrendered two additional baserunners in the first: a walk to Nolan Schanuel and a single to Brandon Drury. But Kikuchi rallied with consecutive strikeouts of Logan O’Hoppe and Wagaman and rolled from there, allowing three additional hits — all singles.
Kikuchi sidestepped two-out singles from Jack Lopez and Jordyn Adams in the second and fourth, respectively, and struck out O’Hoppe and Wagaman in succession again in the sixth after Schanuel opened that frame with a single. Kikuchi retired the Angels (62-91) in order in the third and fifth, completing six frames with five hits and one walk on his ledger. He recorded nine strikeouts to increase his total to 68 strikeouts over 54 innings and nine starts with the Astros.