ANAHEIM, Calif. — Christian Javier struck out 11 in six perfect innings of 3-hit ball, and the Houston Astros held on to Shohei Ohtani’s two-run homer in the ninth inning to beat the Los Angeles Angels 5-4 on Wednesday night. Angels.
Ohtani made the game interesting with a two-run shot off closer Ryan Pressley in the ninth inning. He found a curve below the strike zone and sent the ball into the right-field seats for eight homers after Mike Trout led off an inning.
Anthony Renton and Hunter Renfro then singled, but Pressley retired three straight for his sixth save.
Jeremy Pena hit a two-run single during Houston’s four runs in the fourth. Yordon Alvarez homered for the Astros, who won two of three at Angel Stadium.
Houston has had two impressive starts from Dominican pitchers Framber Valdez and Javier (3-1). Between them, they allowed three runs and struck out 23 in 14 innings.
Javier gave up just one walk and allowed one hit in his six innings.
Griffin Canning (2-1) had to leave the mound in the fourth inning after giving up five hits and five runs.
For the Astros, Dominican Pena is 4-2 with two RBIs and Yanner Diaz is 3-1 with an RBI. Cuba Alvarez was 4-1 with a run and an RBI. Puerto Rican Martin Maldonado 3-1.
For the Angels, Colombian Gio Urshela is 4-1.