Astros at Angels
The Los Angeles Angels look to continue their resurgence south of the border Saturday night when they begin a two-game series against the Houston Astros at Estadio de Beisbol Monterrey in Mexico. The Angels have won six of their last seven contests after a sweeping three from Toronto and Albert Pujols is two RBIs from becoming the fourth player in major league history with 2,000 as they begin a stretch of 11 away games.
“Hopefully we can take this good mojo, and take it on the road with us,” Angels pitcher Tyler Skaggs told reporters after allowing two runs over six innings in a 6-2 victory over the Blue Jays on Thursday. Right-hander Trevor Cahill gets the call for Los Angeles to open the series against lefty Wade Miley in the second regular season major league matchup at Monterrey this season after St. Louis and Cincinnati split a pair of games there April 13-14. The Astros are looking to rebound after dropping three of four at Minnesota to start the week - getting outscored 14-4 in the last two - but led the American League West by a half game entering Friday despite an 8-11 road record. Shortstop Carlos Correa, who was rested Thursday, takes a 13-game hitting streak into the series for Houston while fellow All-Star teammates Alex Bregman (3-for-28 in last eight games) and Jose Altuve (4-for-31 in past nine) have been struggling.
TV: 7:10 p.m. ET, AT&T SportsNet Southwest (Houston), FS West (Los Angeles)
PITCHING MATCHUP: Astros LH Wade Miley (1-2, 3.24 ERA) vs. Angels RH Trevor Cahill (1-2, 5.93)
Miley has not allowed more than three runs in any of his six starts in 2019 and limited Cleveland to one across 5 2/3 innings in a no-decision Sunday. The 32-year-old native of Louisiana, who is four strikeouts from 1,000 for his career, is winless in his past four games (0-1) but the Astros have been victorious in three of them. Jonathan Lucroy is 5-for-14 with a pair of homers against Miley, who is 2-0 with a 2.01 ERA in three career outings versus the Angels.
Cahill has not made it through five innings in his past three starts, including the last one April 25 when he yielded four runs across four frames in a no-decision against the New York Yankees. The 31-year-old California native opened the season with quality starts in two of his first three trips to the mound with 16 strikeouts in 18 innings. Yuli Gurriel is 4-for-9 with a double and a homer versus Cahill, who was 1-1 with a 4.05 ERA in four contests against Houston last year.
WALK-OFFS
1. Houston OF Josh Reddick is 2-for-16 in his career against Cahill, but leads the team with a .344 batting average.
2. Los Angeles CF Mike Trout is 7-for-19 with six RBIs and three walks over his last five games.
3. Astros manager A.J. Hinch will move past Art Howe (392) for third on the franchise’s all-time list with his next win.