Major League Baseball Early Scores: Angels win, gain game on Astros

“Don’t try to force it, just do our job and win series”.

The Astros are 2 1/2 games behind AL West-leading Texas, which played later Wednesday in Oakland.

Fantasy Impact: David Freese came up huge for the Angels on Wednesday night against the Astros in a game they needed to win.

The ball hits the rail above Houston Astros left fielder Colby… “But yeah, I clipped it, and it just went far enough out of reach of Rasmus”. Carlos Perez, a former Astros farmhand, added an RBI single to chase Neshek.

Trevor Gott (3-2) induced the last two outs of the seventh for the victory, and Huston Street allowed one run in the ninth before retiring Jed Lowrie for his 40th save. “I think he has an understanding to just kind of slow things down and have a good at-bat”. The Rangers gave back a game to the Astros over the weekend, leaving them a 1 1/2-game lead over their Texan rivals and a four-game cushion over the Angels in third (and the same distance between them and the Twins).

“I have no complaints about our team”, Astros manager A.J. Hinch said. “But that doesn’t make tonight any easier, but we’ll dust ourselves off. We have a big series ahead and we need to play well to win”.

Houston trailed 3-2 entering the seventh before pinch-hitter Matt Duffy legged out a single with one out and was replaced by pinch-runner Jake Marisnick. However, even though his season started later than most as a rookie, fatigue should be a worry for him and for the Angels.

TORONTO – After an emotional loss to the Toronto Blue Jays, what’s it going to take for the New York Yankees to have a chance of winning the AL East?

August 1, 2015; Los Angeles, CA, US; Los Angeles Angels starting pitcher Andrew Heaney (28) pitches the second inning against Los Angeles Dodgers at Dodger Stadium.

TIGERS 7, WHITE SOX 4 Justin Verlander hit 99 miles per hour in escaping a bases-loaded jam during his final inning, and Victor Martinez hit his 200th career home run as host Detroit beat Chicago. The Astros still could regain the division lead as they prepare to start a series with Texas on Friday with the aforementioned Scott Kazmir on the mound. His first knock brought home the Astros first run. Cron drove in two runs in the first for the Angels and Kole Calhoun hit a solo homer in the fifth. The late velocity was a signature for Verlander when he won the Cy Young and MVP awards in 2011, but was absent as he returned from a shoulder injury earlier this season. Nick Tropeano pitched a solid 4.1 innings in a spot start due to last Saturday’s double-header. But that’s just how important this last stretch is if the Angels plan on playing in the post-season.

“The only other Angels player to amass 40 homers is former third baseman Troy Glaus, who hit 47 in 2000 and 41 in ’01”, according to Brian McTaggart and Alden Gonzalez of MLB.com.

“Those two were not exactly where I wanted them”, he said of the home run pitches.

Weaver departed with two outs in the sixth, having allowed five runs on nine hits and two walks with five strikeouts.