HOUSTON - At this point in the season, the Astros will take a win any way they can get it. Especially with the way their offense has continued to struggle, and also with the second-place Rangers getting shut out at home against the Nationals.
The Astros snapped their three-game losing streak by getting a solo homer from catcher Christian Vázquez in the third inning and RBIs by Jose Altuve and Cam Smith in the fourth to beat the Angels, 3-2, on Wednesday night at Daikin Park, gaining a game in the American League West standings.
The first-place Astros (64-63) moved two games ahead of the Rangers, with Houston holding the tiebreaker over their Lone Star State rivals. Seattle remains four games back.
Here are three things that stood out Wednesday:
Pecko’s debut
Right-hander Ethan Pecko, the Astros’ No. 9-ranked prospect by MLB Pipeline, threw 3 2/3 innings in his Major League debut, allowing two runs, three hits and three walks while striking out four batters. He struck out Vaughn Grissom in the second for his first career strikeout en route to a no-decision.
“It was pretty incredible,” he said. “Words just can’t really describe it; you’ve just got to feel it. … It was a little sloppy, but I felt like I battled. I felt like I didn’t have any expectations, I just wanted to throw well, throw strikes. The command wasn’t there. It’s been a little bit since I threw, but overall I’m happy with it and I think there’s a lot I can work on.”
Pecko battled through some nerves and struggled to throw strikes early, at one point throwing 20 balls and 20 strikes. He finished with 89 pitches (49 strikes), averaging 94.1 mph with his four-seam fastball and topping out at 95.9 mph. He had 12 whiffs, including six on his sinker.
“He’s got some swing-and-miss stuff, that’s for sure,” said manager Joe Espada. “The fastball is good, the sinker. He threw some good sweepers. Really good stuff. He missed some arm side with the fastball. When he gets the stuff in the zone, he can be pretty dangerous.”
Bullpen shines
The Astros continued their strong bullpen work with five relievers -- Bennett Sousa, AJ Blubaugh, Steven Okert, Bryan Abreu and Josh Hader -- combining to throw 5 1/3 scoreless innings, giving up two hits and two walks while striking out seven batters. Houston’s bullpen has a 2.21 ERA and .195 batting average against in 19 games since July 28, both best in the Majors in that span.
Blubaugh, who threw a scoreless sixth, leads the Majors by a wide margin with 78 innings by a reliever and is one of Espada’s biggest mid-game weapons. Blubaugh threw 12 pitches and got five whiffs on seven swings.
The resurgence of Abreu in the setup role has been a huge storyline down the stretch, and Hader (18-for-18 in save chances) has been phenomenal. He recorded his 245th career save Wednesday, passing Dan Quisenberry for 41st on Major League Baseball’s all-time saves list. Opponents are hitting .123 (13-for-106) against him this year.
Okert, who gave up one walk and struck out two in the seventh, issued his first walk since June 27, ending a span of 22 innings without a walk.
Hard times for the offense
The Astros are 4-6 in their last 10 games and are averaging 3.4 runs per game, a number skewed by Friday’s win over the Mariners in which they scored five runs in the 10th inning. Houston is slashing .185/.247/.326 as a team during that stretch with 11 home runs.
Astros shortstop and leadoff hitter Jeremy Peña, who left after two innings Wednesday when he struck by a pitch, is in a 6-for-56 (.107) slump, AL Most Valuable Player front-runner Yordan Alvarez is 7-for-36 (.194) in the last 10 games with one homer and two RBIs, and Christian Walker is in a 2-for-30 (.067) slump with one homer, which was a walk-off homer Friday against Seattle. He’s 0-for-15 since.