Angels claim victory over Michael Brantley and a bunch of other guys

Angels 5 Astros 4

Expectations aren’t high when you are facing the Astros and Justin Verlander, but the Angels aren’t often ones to be reminded of the odds. Noé Ramirez served as the opener tonight and set down the Astros in order with only 8 pitches.

Félix Peña took over in the 2nd and pretty much put us all edge after serving up a bomb to Michael Brantley who ended up owning the night for the Astros

But the Angles took the lead 3-1 in the 3rd thanks to a David Fletcher single followed by a Kole Calhoun home run along with a solo shot by Shoehi “Not in the HR Derby” Ohtani who launched his off the batter’s eye in center field.

Michael Brantley came through for the Astros again in the 4th with a double. He was was followed by Yordan Alvarez who hit the bottom of the Crawford boxes. Thanks to an excellent rebound by Mike Trout, Brantely was held to 3rd base. It didn’t matter much though since he scored one batter later on a Yuli Gurriel ground out.

Kole Calhoun seemed to be telling Michael Brantley that anything he can do, Calhoun can do as well. In this case it was a double in the 5th. At this point, Calhoun and Brantley both had a homer and a double.

The Angels struck again off Justin Verlander when Simba hit a solo shot in the 6th, putting the Halo of 4-2. In total, the Angels hit 3 home runs of Verlander who has now allowed 3 home runs in 4 games this year - 2 of them against the Angels.

Justin Anderson entered in the 6th and gave up a lead off walk to Alex Bregman followed by a double to Brantley (that guy again??) Fortunately the hit was ruled a ground-rule double or Bregman would have likely scored.

Mike Trout launched his 26th home run in the 8th off Héctor Rondón, giving the Angels a much more comfortable 5-2 lead. Or so we thought.

Mr. Michael Brantley notched ANOTHER hit in the 8th, making him 4 for 4 on the night (Calhoun didn’t keep up, but whatever). At the time he had 4 of the Astros only 5 hits all night. Yuli Gurriel launched a 343’ homer - his 7th in 9 games to put the Astros within one. Remember when 5-2 felt “kinda” comfortable? Turns out that home run by Mike Trout was some much needed insurance.

The White Horse Hansel Robles came in to shut down the game, and that he did. Light that baby up!!!