Angels 6, Astros 2
HOUSTON -- Los Angeles Angels veteran right-hander Jered Weaver made his first career start against the Houston Astros a solid one, allowing just one extra-base hit in six strong innings in a 6-2 victory on Saturday night at Minute Maid Park.
Weaver (10-8) allowed a two-run homer to Astros first baseman Brett Wallace in the fourth inning, but that represented his lone hiccup. He surrendered two earned runs and six hits, including five singles, and one walk with five strikeouts. His strikeout of Marc Krauss to close the sixth was the 1,234th of his career, moving him past Frank Tanana (1973-80) and into fourth place in franchise history.
The Astros (51-97), incidentally, set an American League record for strikeouts when Trevor Crowe took a called third strike from Weaver with the bases loaded to snuff out a fifth-inning rally. That marked the Astros' 1,388th strikeout, inching them past the 2012 Oakland Athletics, who struck out 1,387 times. The 2010 Arizona Diamondbacks hold the major league record with 1,529 strikeouts.
The Angels (71-77) had three starters with multi-hit games, including Grant Green (2-for-4 with a double and triple), Chris Iannetta (2-for-4 with a home run and two RBIs) and J.B. Shuck (2-for-4 with an RBI).
Astros left-hander Brett Oberholtzer had allowed three or more earned runs in a start only twice since joining the rotation on July 31, but that was before the Angels scratched across three runs in the fourth inning.
After Chris Iannetta spotted the Angels a 1-0 lead with his leadoff home run in the third inning, his second homer in as many games, Howie Kendrick and Kole Calhoun keyed the fourth-inning rally with back-to-back doubles. Kendrick plated Mike Trout, who walked to open the inning, and scored when Calhoun doubled to center field.
Iannetta added his second run-scoring hit after Calhoun scored Kendrick, slapping a single to left that upped the Angels' lead to 4-0.
Oberholtzer induced double plays in the fifth and sixth innings to avoid further damage, but he departed trailing 4-2 after six innings.
The Astros cut the deficit in half when Brett Wallace cranked a two-run homer, his 13th home run of the season, to right field off Weaver with one out in the fourth.
NOTES: Astros C Jason Castro was hoping to serve as the DH this weekend but instead sat out for the ninth time in 12 games since having a cyst in his right knee drained on Sept. 3. Houston manager Bo Porter announced that Castro could miss a handful of games before returning to the lineup. ... With an RBI double in the fourth inning, Calhoun has driven in a run in 16 of his last 18 starts. He leads all rookies in RBIs since his recall on July 28.