'He took the game over': Neto goes wild with 2-HR, 6-RBI showing

HOUSTON -- Down by four runs after five innings Sunday, the Angels were looking at being swept by the Astros in a four-game series for the first time in over 11 years.

Zach Neto prevented that from happening.

Neto had three hits and six RBIs over the last four innings, including two home runs and a bases-clearing double in the ninth as the Angels rallied for a 9-8 win over the Astros at Minute Maid Park.

“At the end of the game there, his last three at-bats, he took the game over,” Angels manager Ron Washington said. “He has that capability. When he learns how to just trust his work and trust what his abilities are, he can do that type of stuff. … He got us the win.”

After the Astros regained a 6-5 lead in the eighth, Taylor Ward drew a bases-loaded walk to tie it in the top of the ninth. Neto followed by delivering the three-run double down the left-field line off Houston closer Josh Hader.

Neto hit a two-run homer in the sixth to cut the deficit to 4-2, and a solo homer in the eighth off Bryan Abreu to put Los Angeles ahead 5-4.

“Just putting quality at-bats together and not trying to do too much,” Neto said. “I felt like I was pressing a little bit, but I was finally able to come through for the team.”

Neto said Sunday's showing was up there in terms of the best games he’s had, but the win made it better.

“If I had done all this work or my teammates had done this work, and we come up short, it’s not the same. But to finally come through, good team win and getting the win at that end, I think it makes it even more special,” Neto said.

It was Neto’s second career multihomer game and first since June 11, 2023, against the Mariners.

Neto drove in six runs for the second time this season after accomplishing the feat in the second game of a doubleheader against the Yankees on Aug. 7. He became the fourth player in Angels’ history to have multiple games of with least six RBIs in a season, joining Mo Vaughn (1999), Kendrys Morales (2009) and Mike Trout (2019).

“We’ve got a lot of grit,” Neto said. “We’ve got a lot of fight on this team.”

Sandwiched between Neto’s home runs, the Angels tied it with two runs in the seventh as Mickey Moniak, who led off the inning with a double, scored on a Héctor Neris balk before Nolan Schanuel hit a game-tying sacrifice fly.

Neto’s performance followed Logan O’Hoppe’s 4-for-4 night on Saturday, showing what two possible cornerstones of the Angels’ future could do.

“They played well,” Washington said. “The key is always what I’ve been telling them -- it’s about consistency, it’s about sustainability. Everything that they’re going through this year -- the ups and the downs -- it’s a part of a 162-game championship season.

“We needed that today. We needed it yesterday. We needed it the day before, and we needed it the day before that, but they gave it to us today, so I just hope that they continue that until there’s no more baseball to be played.”

The offense came to the rescue for the Angels’ struggling pitching staff.

Griffin Canning yielded four runs on six hits along with three walks and three strikeouts in 4 1/3 innings.

“I thought he was excellent,” Washington said of Canning. “Yeah, he went out in the [fifth] inning and they put three runs on him, but up until there he was controlling them. … Then the bullpen came in and gave us another chance.

“Our offense kept grinding. We put some runs on the board, and we did it against their best pitchers, Abreu and Hader. That’s their best guys. [Astros manager Joe Espada] put Abreu in in the seventh inning, so he was definitely trying to hold the game there. I’m proud of the way we fought.”

The Angels had previously been 1-83 this season when trailing after eight innings.

“We’re just playing for each other right now,” Canning said. “We’re trying to build something here, so we’re not just going to let the record have us roll over and stop fighting. We’re going to play until the last game of the season.”