HOUSTON – Oswald Peraza picked a good time to pick up his first RBIs with the Angels.
Acquired from the Yankees at the Trade Deadline, Peraza hit a go-ahead two-run single as part of a three-run ninth to snap the Angels’ three-game losing streak with a 4-1 win over the Astros on Saturday night at Daikin Park.
The Angels loaded the bases in the ninth on consecutive one-out singles by Luis Rengifo, Logan O’Hoppe and Matthew Lugo off Houston closer Bryan Abreu to set up Peraza’s single off the fence in right field, just out of the reach of Cam Smith.
Peraza said he was looking for something in the zone to hit.
“Bryan Abreu is a really good pitcher,” Peraza said. “He throws fastball, but he throws a lot of breaking balls, too. I was ready for the fastball. … I was waiting for a good pitch. I was waiting for something in the middle.”
Angels interim manager Ray Montgomery thought Peraza’s hit had a chance of leaving the park.
“He has real power in his swing,” Montgomery said. “We’ve seen it. He’s trying to get to it. We’ve seen it obviously in [batting practice] and stuff like that. It was close.”
After Abreu walked Yoán Moncada to load the bases, Mike Trout earned a walk to extend the lead to three.
“He’s tough, especially in that situation, so for us to be able to get on him there, put a little rally together there and put some runs on the board was big,” Montgomery said of the at-bats against Abreu.
The ninth-inning outburst supported a superb effort by starter Kyle Hendricks and three relievers.
Hendricks rebounded nicely after three uncharacteristic starts, giving the Angels six solid innings and allowing one run on seven hits with two strikeouts.
“Fantastic. I mean vintage Kyle,” Montgomery said. “Just sit back, watch, stay out of the way was kind of my goal tonight. Just let him go.”
Hendricks had allowed at least four runs in each of his previous three starts. He has allowed three or fewer earned runs in 17 of his 26 starts this season.
“A lot of good pitches, probably two [or] three bad pitches I missed,” Hendricks said. “Luckily, those pitches were at the start of an inning maybe, so not a lot of damage. I was able to make the pitches later in the innings even with guys on. I was able to stick and make good pitches there and keep them out, but still a similar story -- execute and get what we want. When I miss, I get hit hard.”
The right-hander also did not allow a home run for the second straight outing after allowing one in 18 of his first 24 starts.
Hendricks came into Saturday throwing his changeup (38.9% of the time) slightly more than his sinker (38%). But Hendricks led more with the sinker, throwing 36 to go along with 22 changeups and 17 curveballs out of his 83 pitches.
Despite the change in pitch selection, the result was the same -- a lot of soft contact, as the Astros averaged 83 mph exit velocity.
“That’s my game,” Hendricks said. “That’s what I have to stick to. When I execute my pitches, throw it where I want to, I get the soft contact and it’s going to lead to more outs. When I miss, my room for error is really small. I’m going to get barrelled with that. My focus is just executing pitches, reading swings, reading the hitters what they’re doing to me and making the adjustments between innings with my guys.”
Zach Neto hit a solo home run to left in the third inning to give the Angels a 1-0 lead. The Statcast-projected 403-foot blast was his career-high 24th homer of the season.
Neto had to be looked at by the trainer in the first inning after appearing to land awkwardly on his left wrist diving for a bloop single by Yordan Alvarez.
Neto said he rolled his wrist on the dive. As for the home run, Neto has a lot of pride in the achievement.
“It’s a big achievement for me,” Neto said. “Something I’m proud of for myself and my hitting coaches putting me in the right spot to go out there and perform.”