Angels struggle to produce offense in loss to Astros

ANAHEIM — The Angels tweaked their lineup on Saturday against the Houston Astros, but the result was eerily similar to the night before.

The Angels couldn’t come up with a clutch hit while Yordan Alvarez continued to mash the ball for the Astros, adding up to a 6-1 victory by Houston in the second game of the three-game series at Angel Stadium.

The Angels (24-40) lost 7-1 in the series opener on Friday night when left-hander Framber Valdez threw a four-hitter and Alvarez blasted a three-run double in the five-run seventh inning.

Houston starter Hunter Brown (2-5) wasn’t nearly as efficient as Valdez, but discovered what worked as the game went along. He blanked the Angels on two hits over six innings, striking out seven, walking four and hitting a batter.

For the second straight night, a solo home run was all the run-production the Angels could muster, this time by Nolan Schanuel in the seventh inning.

Angels starter Tyler Anderson (5-6) went six innings, allowing four runs and seven hits. He struck out three and walked one.

The Astros (30-35) came into Saturday’s game with the 21st best ERA in the MLB (4.22), but the Angels hadn’t scored more than four runs in 14 straight games.

Chas McCormick led off the third with a triple off the wall in right field. Jose Altuve then sent him home with a line-drive single to left for a 1-0 lead.

After the Astros loaded the bases on a walk and hit batter, Anderson struck out the next two batters, but Jake Meyers came through with a single to left, scoring Altuve for a 2-0 lead.

Alex Bregman beat out an infield single with one out in the fifth before Alvarez lined a 3-1 pitch into the crowd in right for a 4-0 lead.

Rafael Montero relieved Brown to start the seventh and got the first two outs before Schanuel lined a homer to right to cut the lead to 4-1.

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Following the home run, the Angels loaded the bases with three straight walks, the third after Houston catcher Yainer Diaz failed to catch a pop up behind home plate by Willie Calhoun.

Angels shortstop Zach Neto, who had never hit in the third through sixth spots in the batting order in his two-year MLB career, came up in the No. 5 spot and grounded weakly to first base to end the inning.

Matt Thaiss was also in the starting lineup for the first time in a week, but he struck out with the bases loaded in the first inning against Brown, who came in with a 14.34 ERA in the opening frame this season.

The Angels were 0 for 5 with runners in scoring position through the first four innings before finishing 0 for 7.

The Astros, meanwhile, went 5 for 12 with runners in scoring position, including RBI singles by Diaz and Mauricio Dubon in the eighth that stretched the lead to 6-1.