ANAHEIM — Defensive execution in the 10th inning was the difference between the Angels and the Houston Astros.
The Angels didn’t make the plays they needed to make, while the Astros did, in what turned out to be a 5-4 loss on Monday night.
The Angels took a one-run lead into the ninth inning, when Kirby Yates gave up the tying run, and then it got ugly in the 10th.
In the top of the inning, the inning began with the Astros’ Brice Matthews bunting down the third-base line. Denzer Guzman, who had no play and should have let the ball roll foul, instead picked it up, so Matthews had a hit.
Left-hander Sam Aldegheri bounced back with a strikeout and then he got a pop-up.
Second baseman Nick Madrigal caught the pop-up just in the outfield grass, and José Altuve still broke toward home. Madrigal’s throw bounced and got past catcher Logan O’Hoppe, so the run scored.
In the bottom of the inning, José Siri led off by singling into right field, with Mike Trout steaming around third as the automatic runner. Matthews, the Astros left fielder, made a perfect throw to nail Trout at the plate.
Jo Adell then struck out and Guzman hit a fly out, as the Angels lost.
Before all that, Yates entered in the ninth with a 4-3 lead and the top of the Astros’ order due. He walked leadoff hitter Jeremy Peña. Yates then struck out the most dangerous hitter, Yordan Alvarez.
Peña stole second, though, and he scored when Christian Walker punched a single up the middle.
The Angels have remarkably converted only six saves all season, even though they have won 25 games. They have 13 blown saves, although four of them were in two games and the Angels won two of the games.
Yates recorded the Angels’ last save, on May 23. It was the 99th save of his career, and he’s still looking for the milestone.
Yates spoiled Zach Neto’s go-ahead homer in the seventh. It was Neto’s third straight game with a homer, and his 13th of the season.
The Angels could have had a bigger margin if they’d done more with their opportunities early in the game against right-hander Spencer Arrighetti, the ace of the Astros’ injury-ravaged rotation.
In the second inning, Jo Adell was hit by a pitch and then Nick Madrigal and Trey Mancini had hits, knocking in one run.
Mancini had three hits in his first major league game since July 2023.
After Mancini’s single in the second, O’Hoppe pulled a double down the left-field line, driving in two more.
Back-to-back walks to Neto and Trout loaded the bases, giving the Angels a chance to break the game open, but Wade Meckler struck out.
Angels starter Grayson Rodriguez gave up seven runs in a loss to the Colorado Rockies last week, and he bounced back to respectability against the Astros. He gave up three runs (two earned) in 5⅓ innings, leaving in a 3-3 tie.
He clearly still has some work to do to get back to being the pitcher he was before missing nearly two years with injuries, but he continues to show that he’s healthy.
His fastball averaged 97 mph, which was up from previous outings. Rodriguez threw several eye-opening pitches, like the changeup that whiffed MVP candidate Yordan Alvarez in the first. He also struck out Christian Walker on a 97 mph fastball to strand two runners in the fifth.
In between, though, Rodriguez left some balls over the middle and they were hit hard. He gave up six hits, including five doubles. He also hung a 3-and-2 changeup to Alvarez, who just got under it and it a towering fly ball to center field. Trout misplayed it, for an error that led to the unearned run.
More to come on this story.