Final Score in Houston: Angels 4 Astros 2
Halo SS Erick Aybar was in the middle of all the Angels scoring on Friday night. At the stadium, no word how he is doing at the After-Hours club scene in Houston.
Down 1-0 early, Aybar scored the first run of the night for the Halos on a Mike Trout single. Tied, he was safe at 2B ahead of an errant throw on a J.B. Shuck flyout that advanced Peter Bourjos to 3B. The ganked throw allowed PB to score to give the Angels a 2-1 lead. In the top of the ninth, Aybar singled home two runs for insurance.
The insurance was needed as Ernesto Frieri gave up a run on a sac fly in a nervous save, his 20th of the season.
Jerome Williams pitched into the seventh inning and looked like an actual starting pitcher, not a reliever, allowing just a run. Dane De La Rosa got his Season ERA down to 3.25 with a scoreless two-thirds of an inning and got his third W of the season. Kevin Jepsen got into trouble in the eighth up 2-1 but wriggled out of it.
One hates to say it was a must-win game, but it seems like a must-sweep series. The building blocks just keep getting bigger and at least tonight it was a small stone set in the right direction on the long road up Arte's presumed playoff-push pyramid.