Astros remain perfect with Kikuchi on the mound
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ANAHEIM -- The Yusei Kikuchi train rolls on for the Astros.
Kikuchi held the Angels to three runs and three hits and struck out six batters in seven innings to remain unbeaten in a Houston uniform and Alex Bregman clubbed a two-run home run in the third inning to send the Astros to a 5-3 victory Friday night at Angel Stadium.
The win was the 5,000th in Houston franchise history, which dates to the expansion Colt .45s in 1962. It also maintained the Astros' lead in the AL West at 4 1/2 games.
The Astros improved to 8-0 in games started by Kikuchi, who was acquired from the Blue Jays at the Trade Deadline. Kikuchi is 5-0 in those eight starts and is approaching Randy Johnson (1998), Justin Verlander (2017) and Zack Greinke (2019) as one of Houston’s most influential in-season starting pitching pickups.
The Astros went ahead, 2-0, in the second inning on a bases-loaded walk to Jose Altuve and sacrifice fly by Yordan Alvarez. Bregman’s 23rd homer of the year, a two-run drive off Samuel Aldegheri, made it 4-0 in the third.
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Kikuchi walked the eight- and nine-hole hitters to start the third inning, and both wound up scoring. He gave up a homer to Mickey Moniak in the fourth that cut the lead to 4-3, but Kikuchi set down 13 of the final 14 batters he faced, including the final 10 in a row.