Trout Homers Twice As Weaver Gains 17th Win
ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — Jered Weaver earned his AL-leading 17th win, Mike Trout homered twice and the Los Angeles Angels reduced their magic number for clinching the AL West to four with a 5-2 victory over the Houston Astros on Saturday night.
The Angels extended their winning streak to 10 games -- one off the franchise record set in 1964 -- improving to a major league-best 93-55. They had scored at least seven runs in each of their previous eight contests, tying a club record set in 1979.
Trout, the All-Star center fielder who has a career-high 34 home runs, connected twice for the third time this season.
Weaver (17-8) allowed a run and four hits through seven innings with a season-high 12 strikeouts, his 13th career double-digit game. The three-time All-Star is 10-2 with a 3.35 ERA over his last 17 starts.
Huston Street pitched for the first time since Sept. 6, working a scoreless ninth for his 14th save after missing five games with a hamstring problem.
Scott Feldman (8-11) allowed two runs and eight hits in six innings. Jose Altuve had two hits including an RBI double, and is six hits away from Craig Biggio's 1998 franchise record of 210.
Trout hit an opposite-field drive to right-center in the first inning, then homered over the trees in center leading off the third for his third career multihomer game.
The Angels' added two more in the seventh on a bases-loaded walk to Albert Pujols and an RBI single by Howie Kendrick.
TRAINER'S ROOM
Astros: OF George Springer (left quadriceps strain) became the sixth player on the team to miss at least 50 games because of a single injury. Reliever Josh Zeid will reach that figure four games from now. He is out for the rest of the season because of operations on both feet.
Angels: LF Josh Hamilton missed his ninth consecutive game because of a sore right shoulder. No. 5 hitter Howie Kendrick has started in the cleanup spot for Hamilton during this entire stretch, going 20 for 40 with two homers and 13 RBIs.
UP NEXT
Astros: Dallas Keuchel (10-9, 3.06 ERA) is 5-16 with a 4.93 ERA in 32 career starts after the All-Star break, compared to 14-11 with a 3.67 ERA in 33 starts before the break. He leads the AL with five complete games this season, one fewer than major league leader Clayton Kershaw, and he has the best ground ball-to-flyball ratio in the majors (3.51).
Angels: Hector Santiago (5-7, 3.38 ERA) is 5-0 with a 2.65 ERA in his last 14 appearances, including 12 starts. Two of those victories came in relief.
(© Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)