ANAHEIM -- Astros pitcher Justin Verlander has only two starts remaining to be where he wants to be, with his stuff and mechanics, before the playoffs begin. He called his five-inning outing Saturday night against the Angels a step forward toward reaching that goal.

Verlander admitted he couldn’t get his fastball past Angels hitters consistently and couldn’t get them to chase his offspeed pitches, which meant had to grind through an 89-pitch outing. Verlander gave up two runs and four hits to help the Astros their third victory in a row, 5-3, at Angel Stadium. It was his first win since May 24.

“He’s a perfectionist, and he still thinks that he wants more -- and we all know we can do that,” Astros manager Joe Espada said. “I thought today was a step in the right direction. I thought he mixed his breaking balls over and threw some really good changeups to their lefties. I told him, ‘Let’s look at what you did really well and let’s build from that and get ready for the next one.’”

Verlander, who was 0-4 with a 9.68 ERA in his first four starts after missing 2 1/2 months with a stiff neck, had only nine swings and misses while watching the Angels foul off 21 pitches. He struck out only two batters, which kept him tied for 10th place on the all-time strikeout list with former teammate Max Scherzer with 3,507. (Scherzer also had two strikeouts Saturday for the Rangers.)

“I felt like the stuff was OK,” Verlander said. “The velo wasn’t as good as it has been, but the shapes were good. They made me work pretty hard.”

Verlander walked the first two Angels hitters and then gave up a single. He didn’t record his first out until his 19th pitch, when center fielder Jake Meyers made a great diving catch in the gap to save a pair of runs. That was one of three excellent defensive plays made in Houston’s outfield with Verlander pitching.

“Obviously, I was out of sync early, and I’m working on a lot of stuff,” Verlander said. “I felt I was able to at least quell that a bit. They made some good defensive plays behind me. Overall, it’s still a step in the right direction, but still tough outs.”

The Astros (80-68) maintained their 4 1/2-game lead over the second-place Mariners in the American League West with 14 games remaining. Verlander’s next start likely comes Friday against the Angels in Houston, and his final two starts will go a long way to determine where he’ll slot into the Astros’ playoff rotation.

Framber Valdez and Hunter Brown have pitched like aces since the start of June and figure to lead Houston’s postseason charge. And the club is 8-0 in games started by Yusei Kikuchi, who was acquired from the Blue Jays in July.

“It’s start to start at this point,” Verlander said. “I’m trying to play catch-up. I felt like, unfortunately, before I got hurt I got on a little bit of a good run there and found my mechanics. And then a neck injury and kind of lost it and obviously lost a lot of time. I’m trying as quickly as I can to get back to that version where I’m tougher to hit than I am right now.

“Really, the only time you can get a sense for how your stuff is perceived is when hitters are in the batter’s box and there’s that instinctual give and take that you receive from hitters. We’ll evaluate this one over the next few days and just continually try to add brick by brick in the right direction and continue to improve.”

Angels manager Ron Washington expects Verlander to be back to peak form in the postseason.

“He's one of those guys that can rise, and he'll be ready to go when the playoffs hit,” Washington said. “But tonight, he was having trouble early trying to find the strike zone. And I think we made some good passes at him and we had some opportunities."

Yordan Alvarez clubbed a two-run homer in Houston’s three-run fifth inning, and Kyle Tucker had a pinch-hit homer in the ninth -- his first since returning from the injured list. Houston’s bullpen held on to save Verlander’s 261st career win.