Astros Erupt for Four in Ninth, Stun Angels 6-4

Houston trailed 4-0 through three innings and 4-1 through eight, then sent ten men to the plate in the ninth and walked away with a 6-4 win over Los Angeles. The Angels watched a two-challenge ninth inning go against them both times, and a pair of fielding errors — one by second baseman Vaughn Grissom, one by pitcher Bachman — turned a winnable game into a loss.

Los Angeles looked in complete control early. Nolan Schanuel hit a sacrifice fly to center in the first to score Neto, then Grissom singled to right to score Trout, making it 2-0. Grissom went deep to left center — 395 feet — in the third to push the lead to 3-0, and Jo Adell doubled to right to score Lowe and make it 4-0 before Houston had answered once. Walbert Urena was sharp through six innings, allowing just 2 hits and 1 earned run while striking out five. The Angels' story of the night through eight innings looked like dominant pitching and timely hitting.

Houston chipped away quietly. Taylor Trammell hit a 412-foot homer to center in the fourth to get the Astros on the board at 4-1, and Yordan Alvarez singled to left in the eighth to score Peña and make it 4-2. Two runs in eight innings against a lead that felt comfortable — it appeared the Angels were in full control heading to the ninth.

Then everything unraveled. A fielder's choice grounder to second turned into a two-base error by Grissom, and Trammell scored to make it 4-3. A hit-by-pitch scored Spence to tie it at 4-4, and the Angels challenged — the call was upheld. Then Wade Jr. walked to score Peña, and the win probability swung from 48% to 17% for Los Angeles when that walk was confirmed after another upheld challenge. The Astros weren't done: Alvarez scored on a fielding error by pitcher Bachman to cap the four-run ninth at 6-4. Cristian Javier had done his part earlier — 5.0 innings, 3 hits, 0 earned runs, 7 strikeouts — but the story of this game was a ninth inning that the Angels lost not to dominant hitting, but to two failed challenges, two errors, and a walk that broke the dam.