Garcia's rebound gem bolsters postseason case 

ANAHEIM -- Considering the Astros will be trying to piece together their playoff rotation in about a month for the American League Division Series, if anyone was in need of a strong finish it was right-handed pitcher Luis Garcia.

In his last six starts prior to Saturday, Garcia had a 5.45 ERA and 1.50 WHIP, with only one quality start, and didn’t look the part of an October starting candidate. He had allowed at least three earned runs in every start, including four runs three times, and had pitched past the sixth inning only once.

With Lance McCullers Jr. having returned to the rotation and made four starts since missing the first 4 1/2 months with an injury, and Jose Urquidy posting a strong second half to bolster his spot in the rotation, Garcia helped his stock by throwing perhaps his best game of the season in a 2-1 loss in 12 innings to the Angels on Saturday night at Angel Stadium.

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Garcia, pitching against AL Most Valuable Player candidate Shohei Ohtani, allowed three hits and one run and struck out seven batters in seven innings. The only run he gave up came in the seventh when the Angels turned a leadoff single by Luis Rengifo into a game-tying sac fly.

“I felt really good today and and it was one of my best ones,” Garcia said. “I really needed it. I’m really happy that it was good today.”

Garcia, whose curveball is usually his third pitch behind the four-seam fastball and cutter, relied heavily on it against the Angels. He threw 24 curveballs, which ranked second in his pitch usage behind the four-seam (35 pitches) and ahead of the cutter (15 pitches). He got eight swings-and-misses on the pitch and struck out Mike Trout looking in the third.

“The curveball was working really good,” he said. “I'm happy about it. I was throwing strikes. It was great.”

Garcia, working with veteran catcher Christian Vazquez for the fifth consecutive start since the backstop was acquired from the Red Sox at the Trade Deadline, went to the curveball more often as the game progressed because it was working so well.

“I started to throw it even to righties,” he said.

While Garcia was in the dugout, Ohtani was holding the Astros to one run and six hits in eight innings, with the Angels grinding out a run in the 12th to snap Houston’s four-game winning streak. That made for a frustrating night for the Astros, who held the Angels to four hits in 12 innings.

“We got away with a few mistakes but they got away with some mistakes, too,” Astros manager Dusty Baker. “Boy, we had opportunities to win the game and it was tough.”

That also left Garcia with little room for error. After carrying a shutout into the seventh, the leadoff single to Rengifo wouldn’t have hurt him if he hadn’t followed with a walk to Taylor Ward, pushing Rengifo to second. He went to third on a fly ball and scored on a Ryan Aguilar sac fly.

“He had very few walks, he didn’t make any mistakes,” Baker said of Garcia. “I think the walk is what hurt him, but he was good. He was excellent. It’s a tough one to lose. You know you're not going to keep beating those guys over and over and over, even though you’d like to. They’re better than they’re playing.”

Garcia said his goal was to compete, “as always,” and he hopes his outing Saturday helps set the stage for a strong finish to his season. If the Astros get the injured Justin Verlander (calf) back before the end of the regular season, they’ll have a playoff rotation that includes Verlander, Framber Valdez and McCullers, with Urquidy, Cristian Javier and Garcia battling for a spot.

What’s more, top Astros pitching prospect Hunter Brown is set to make his first Major League start on Monday and could wind up being an October weapon for Houston.

“I want to finish strong,” Garcia said. “That’s what I want. I think this was a good step for it.”