A night after giving up 10 runs to the Houston Astros, Angels pitching was bullied once again in a 10-5 loss Tuesday night.

The Angels have struggled mightily against the Astros and the AL West all season, and their ineptitude in the division reared its ugly head again as the Halos lost their fifth straight game. The loss moves them to 72-79 on the season and officially eliminated them from postseason contention.

In what has become a mundane stretch of division matchups, the Angels offense offered a little more excitement in the second game of the four-game series after laying an egg on Monday, but were unable to overcome a 10-1 deficit.

Scoring Summary

• T-2nd Inning: Kyle Tucker 2-RBI HR (27) (HOU 2 - LAA 0), Aledmys Díaz HR (8) (Back-to-Back (HOU 3 - LAA 0)
• B-2nd Inning: Jack Mayfield HR (10) (HOU 3 - LAA 1)
• T-5th Inning: José Altuve 2-RBI HR (29) (HOU 5 - LAA 1), Díaz 2-RBI single (HOU 7 - LAA 1)
• T-6th Inning: Martín Maldonado HR (12) (HOU 8 - LAA 1), Carlos Correa sacrifice fly (HOU 9 - LAA 1), Tucker force out RBI (HOU 10 - LAA 1)
• B-6th Inning: Phil Gosselin 3-RBI HR (7) (HOU 10 - LAA 4)
• B-8th Inning: Shohei Ohtani HR (45) (HOU 10 - LAA 5)
• W: José Urquidy (8-3, 3.56 ERA) (5.1 IP, 6 H, 4 R, 0 BB, 3 SO, 2 HR)
• L: Packy Naughton (0-3, 5.23 ERA) (4.0 IP, 4 H, 4 R, 3 BB, 1 SO, 2 HR)

The Good

• The Angels actually scored runs. A night after getting shutout, the Angels offense responded with three homers that gave them all five of their runs. Ohtani’s home run was his 45th of the season and was a 445 foot no-doubter into right field. The blast broke his home run drought and was his first since Sept. 10, also against Houston.

The Bad

• Young pitching was overwhelmed. Naughton couldn’t get to five innings after allowing four runs; RHP Oliver Ortega posted a tough line with 0.1 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 1 BB, 1 SO and 1 HR; and RHP Kyle Tyler wasn’t able to stop the bleeding with 2.2 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 3 BB, 3 SO and 1 HR.

The Ugly

• The Angels are now 24-41 against the AL West. Had they at least gone .500 up to this point in the division, the Halos would be in contention for the playoffs and very much alive. Alas, they’ve not only struggled, they’ve been flat-out owned by the division. As of this writing, they are 5-12 against Houston, 5-8 against Seattle, 4-15 against Oakland, and 10-6 against Texas. Along with injuries and Ohtani’s MVP-caliber campaign, their division record is a major story of the season.
• The Angels have already allowed 20 runs to the Houston offense and the series is only half-over. Pain.

Play of the Game

• The Ohtani home run is probably the only memorable thing worth mentioning on the Angels’ side. The offense was mostly fine, but Houston really controlled this game.

Player(s) of the Game

• Houston 3B Aledmys Díaz had three RBIs and a home run. Other Houston notables include former Angels catcher Maldonado going 1-2 with two walks and a home run, 2B Altuve driving in a pair with a homer and DH Tucker once again tormenting the Angels with a home run and three RBIs.

Tuesday Notables

• RHP Austin Warren made his return from the IL Tuesday night. He threw a scoreless inning and struck out one.
• As made evident in the loss, a lot of times Ohtani has success on nights where the Angels don’t. Tonight, he tied the wrong kind of record:

• Speaking of Ohtani, despite his recent struggles, he should still be favored to take home the MVP award. His numbers this season match those of other AL MVPs, Alex Rodriguez and Mike Trout:

• As mentioned earlier, the Angels are officially eliminated from playoff contention. While inevitable, it is still disappointing. With money coming off the books in the offseason and player availability hopefully becoming more prevalent in 2022, the Angels will need to make the right moves in free agency while hoping for favorable health next season to turn things around.

What’s Next

Angels’ RHP Janson Junk (0-1, 2.25 ERA) will face RHP Luis García (11-7, 3.37 ERA) in game 3 of the four-game series as the Angels take on the Astros at 6:38 p.m. at Angel Stadium on Wednesday. The game can be accessed via Bally Sports West and KLAA-AM830.