JOE RESNICK
Associated Press
ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — When the Houston Astros hosted the Los Angeles Angels for a two-game set a couple of weeks ago, they took both games from the AL West leaders to end their six-game winning streak.
Since then, the Angels have won 10 straight — one away from their 1964 franchise record. Scott Feldman gave up two solo homers to Mike Trout, and the Astros lost 5-2 on Saturday night with Jered Weaver getting his AL-leading 17th win.
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.
“He’s a great player and got me a couple times there,” Feldman said. “It turned out to be enough with the way Weaver was throwing. He seemed was on his game pretty well the whole night, and I obviously gave those up two home runs. So that was the game right there. They’ve obviously got a great lineup, felt like I did a pretty good job of battling just keeping the team in the game.”
Feldman (8-11) allowed two runs and eight hits in six innings. This was the sixth time he and Weaver have matched up against each other. Weaver is 1-2 with a 3.82 ERA in those games, and Feldman is 2-2 with a 2.63 ERA.
“He’s been one of the best pitchers in the game for the last 10 years now, somebody I got a lot of respect for,” Feldman said.
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.
“He’s tough. Guys have trouble seeing the ball against him,” Astros interim manager Tom Lawless said. “He can change speeds in any count. They have a lot of weapons in their lineup, and that’s why they’re there where they’re at.”
Houston’s Jose Altuve had two hits including an RBI double, and is six hits away from Craig Biggio’s 1998 franchise record of 210.
Any combination of Angels victories and Seattle Mariners losses totaling four will give Los Angeles its sixth division title under manager Mike Scioscia and first since 2009, when the team won its their third in a row.
This was Weaver’s 32nd start this season — and only the third in which Trout homered. The All-Star center fielder, who has a career-high 34 home runs, also did it on opening night at home against Seattle’s Felix Hernandez, and on Aug. 24 at Oakland against reliever Jesse Chavez.
“We’ve kind of given him a hard time about that. It seems like he always hit home runs when I’m not pitching,” Weaver said with a grin. “But regardless of the home runs, he’s done more than enough in the games that I’ve pitched. That’s for sure.”
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.
COULD HAPPEN
Weaver and the Dodgers’ Clayton Kershaw — who is in a four-way tie for the most wins in the NL — have a chance to pull off a rare feat. Only six times since 1929 have two pitchers from the same market led their respective leagues in victories during the same season. The last time it happened was 1985, when the Yankees’ Ron Guidry won 22 games and the Mets’ Dwight Gooden won 24.
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.
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