Angels stymie Astros, delaying Houston from clinching division for a while longer

Angels 8, Astros 4

The bubbly drinks will need to be kept under wraps for a little longer.

Houston had the opportunity to clinch the AL West Saturday night, but they failed to do so as the Angels struck for three early and never relinquished the lead. With the Oakland A’s up big at the time of this writing, it is unlikely Houston will celebrate tonight.

Wade Miley, the sneaky good signing and erstwhile dark horse Cy Young contender, lasted just one inning, allowing four runs, raising his ERA to 3.91. As Houston sets up for the postseason, it is unlikely they will need Miley for too many innings (he slots in fourth behind Justin Verlander, Gerrit Cole, and Zack Greinke).

He didn’t show too much promise Saturday. David Fletcher started the game by hooking one into the very-short Crawfish Boxes. As has been argued on Twitter, a home run is a home run, no matter its distance.

Fletcher would go on to tally three hits in the first four innings. He added this AMAZINGLY AWESOME DEFENSIVE GEM:

I just...this is the first game I’ve had the opportunity to catch in a few weeks, and Fletcher made it worthwhile.

Patrick Sandoval was okay, working three innings and getting into bits of trouble here and there. Still on his strict pitch count limit, he threw just 56. (Hey, 56! We love that number!)

Although Luis Garcia made things interesting, the Angels kind of cruised to victory, with Kole Calhoun adding insurance in the ninth:

The first four Angel hitters (Fletcher, Andrelton Simmons, Albert Pujols, and Calhoun) had multi-hit games.

Everyone who contributed today reminds me of all the little bits and pieces for which to cheer the last week of the season. When I head over to the Big A on Tuesday (for the Shohei Ohtani face shirt) and possibly Friday, I am once again reminded that it may be the last time I ever see Kole Calhoun in an Angels uniform. I was there for his first HR; was this his last tonight?