George Klassen twirled a career-best seven shutout innings in his fifth career start, and the visiting Los Angeles Angels recorded two-out RBIs in three successive innings to defeat the Houston Astros 3-1 on Tuesday.
Klassen (2-1) surrendered four baserunners – one hit and three walks – and recorded a career-best seven strikeouts. He threw 86 pitches, 54 for strikes, and allowed just one runner to reach scoring position in the first inning.
Jose Altuve followed a two-out walk by Isaac Paredes in the bottom of the first with a sharp single to right field, advancing Paredes to third base. Klassen followed with a strikeout of Daulton Varsho to snuff the early threat and conclude the frame, the first of seven consecutive batters he retired until Paredes walked leading off the fourth.
Klassen then induced a fielder’s choice grounder from Altuve, initiating a stretch of nine consecutive batters retired. Altuve walked to open the seventh, but Klassen retired the next three batters, including strikeouts of Christian Walker and Taylor Trammell in succession, to cap his outing and secure his second career win.
The Angels’ two-out success started in the top of the second but didn’t yield fruit after Astros right-hander Cristian Javier (1-4) struck out Josh Lowe after allowing a two-out single to Vaughn Grissom. But after Javier recorded two quick outs to open the third, the Angels broke through.
Wade Meckler and Nolan Schanuel sandwiched singles around a Mike Trout walk, with Schanuel plating Meckler and providing the Angels a 1-0 lead. An inning later, after Javier retired Moises Ballesteros and Grissom to open the fourth, Lowe bashed his 10th home run to left, doubling the Angels’ lead.
Astros reliever Bryan King surrendered a two-out single to Schanuel in the fifth. Zach Neto greeted the third Astros pitcher of the game, reliever Enyel De Los Santos, with an RBI double to left, plating Schanuel for a 3-0 lead.
Cam Smith ended the Angels’ shutout bid with a homer, his 17th, leading off the eighth against Angels reliever Jose Fermin. Yainer Diaz followed with a single, but Ryan Watson retired Yordan Alvarez and Paredes to end the threat. Ben Joyce worked a perfect ninth for his third save.
The Astros had just one at-bat with a runner in scoring position, the Varsho strikeout in the first.
