Justin Verlander secured his first win since coming back from a neck injury, and Yordan Alvarez hit a go-ahead home run in the fifth inning, leading the Houston Astros to a 5-3 victory over the Los Angeles Angels on Saturday night.
Kyle Tucker added a pinch-hit home run, Jose Altuve had two hits and scored twice, and the Astros won their third straight game, keeping their 4 1/2-game lead over second-place Seattle in the AL West.
Tucker’s home run was his first since returning from a shin fracture seven games ago. He hasn’t played consecutive games in the outfield since his return on September 6.
Astros manager Joe Espada commented on Tucker’s impact, saying, “To have a guy like that on the bench, you’d rather have him on the field, but when you have him on the bench, you can’t wait to throw him out there.”
Verlander (4-6) allowed two runs and four hits in five innings. He had struggled since coming back on August 21 after a 2 1/2-month absence due to neck stiffness. This win was his first since May 24 against Oakland.
Ryan Pressly earned his fourth save with 1 2/3 scoreless innings.
Despite the win, Verlander, at 41 years old, is aiming for improvement as the season heads into October. “It’s start to start at this point, trying to play catchup,” said the three-time Cy Young Award winner.
“Unfortunately, before I got hurt, I got on a little bit of a good run there, kind of found my mechanics and then the neck injury, and I kind of lost it. Obviously, I lost a lot of time. I’m trying as quickly as I can to get back to that version where I’m tougher to hit than I am right now.”
For the Angels, Tyler Anderson (10-13) gave up four runs and seven hits in five innings. Eric Wagaman recorded his first career hit and RBI with a double in the fourth inning.
“That’s great; now he can relax a bit,” manager Ron Washington said.
Wagaman started his major league career with nine at-bats without a hit and two strikeouts.
Altuve got the Astros started by leading off with a bunt single and then stealing second base. He moved to third on a groundout and scored when Anderson threw a wild pitch.
Verlander walked the first two batters he faced, and Nolan Schanuel drove in the Angels’ first run with an RBI single.
Houston’s defense helped Verlander after that, starting with a diving catch by Jake Meyers in center field. Verlander then retired nine of the next 10 Angels batters.
In the fourth inning, Astros right fielder Ben Gamel crashed into the short wall to catch a ball and stop Mickey Moniak from getting an RBI. However, Wagaman hit an RBI double, giving the Angels a 2-1 lead.
“There have been some games where things haven’t gone my way, so it was nice to get some of those defensive plays,” Verlander said. “It felt really good.”
Verlander is scheduled for at least two more starts before the end of the regular season as the Astros plan for the playoffs.
“We’ll assess this game over the next few days and keep building step by step in the right direction,” Verlander said. “We need to keep improving.”
The Astros took the lead in the fifth inning when Alvarez hit a home run to right field after Altuve’s leadoff single. Alvarez’s home run was his 34th of the season. Later, with two outs, Jeremy Peña singled, stole second, and scored on Victor Caratini’s single.
The Angels almost tied the game in the eighth inning, but Schanuel was thrown out at home plate by Meyers while trying to score from second base on Logan O’Hoppe’s RBI single, which made the score 4-3.
Tucker hit his 20th home run in the ninth inning, his first since June 1 following a long injury layoff.
