HOUSTON – Carlos Estevez spent the first three games of this four-game series sitting idle in the bullpen, waiting for the Angels to grab a ninth-inning lead for their catcher. He had watched his teammates play three error-filled games en route to three losses.
They were certainly disappointed, but not discouraged, Estevez said after the Angels stopped the bleeding with a 2-1 win over the Houston Astros in the series finale on Sunday.
“We’re going to show them we’re good enough,” Estévez said. “Come on. Let’s clean it up. What happened in the past happened. Let’s turn the page and move on.”
The Angels got excellent pitching from starter Griffin Canning and relievers Chris Devenski and Estévez, with a homer by Luis Rengifo and a RBI double by Shohei Ohtani in the eighth inning. Third baseman Gio Urshela made a run-saving save while Devenski was on the mound in the seventh, a welcome sight after poor infield defense contributed to losses Friday and Saturday.
Manager Phil Nevin had watched the Astros make one excellent defensive play after another and write a series of clutch hits to win the first three games.
“Those guys have been places we haven’t been, and that’s where we want to go,” Nevin said. “There is a good team. It’s nice to get a win on the day away from here.”
The Angels didn’t get a lead until two outs in the top of the eighth. Urshela led off with a single. After a flyout and a force out, the Angels still had a runner at first with Ohtani at the plate. He took a full count against right-hander Phil Maton, and eventually took a curveball to the knees of the fence in right, driving in the go-ahead run.
Devenski, who had worked a scoreless seventh with the help of Urshela’s diving save, picked up the first two outs of the eighth, and then Estevez struck out the bottom of the eighth and struck out three in the ninth. He has been perfect in 14 save opportunities this year.
The Angels (31-30) avoided their first four-game losing streak of the season, thanks in large part to a strong performance from starter Canning.
“After the first few games, you want to try and stop things,” Canning said. “He was on a really good page with (Matt) Thaiss behind the plate. He got a timely hit and the bullpen came in and shut him down.”
Canning gave up one run in six innings, his third straight quality start. Canning has a 2.59 ERA over his last four starts.
The only run he allowed was a home run by Yainer Diaz, who took a fastball well above the strike zone and hit it 414 feet.
“That’s three to four inches above the inside rail area,” Nevin said. “Diaz made a good swing. You don’t see a lot of balls hit in this place.”
Otherwise, the Astros failed to get a runner in scoring position against Canning. Canning struck out four and walked one, in 87 pitches.
He left with a 1-1 tie as the Angels did little against Houston right-hander JP France.
The Angels didn’t get a baserunner until Mike Trout walked in the fourth and didn’t get a hit until Luis Rengifo homered in the sixth, tying the game.
From there, Ohtani and Urshela produced the only run the Angels would need, thanks to the defense and relief pitching.
“It feels great,” Estevez said. “We came into this game. We came out on top and everybody did what they had to do. It feels good to get a team win like that, playing really well against the Astros. It feels great.”
