HOUSTON (AP) Justin Verlander pitched seven sharp innings, AL MVP Jose Altuve hit his first home run of the season and the Houston Astros beat the Angels 5-2 Wednesday, ending Los Angeles’ road winning streak at a team record-tying 11 in a row.
Albert Pujols connected off Verlander for his 619th career homer. Pujols now has 2,994 hits.
Alex Bregman hit a three-run double and Jake Marisnick homered as Houston avoided a three-game sweep. The Angels had also won 11 straight road games in 1988.
Verlander (4-0) held the Angels hitless into the fifth inning before Zack Cozart singled with two outs. Verlander gave up two runs and four hits, striking out nine without a walk.
Verlander won his 11th regular-season decision in a row, dating to mid-August last year, before the Detroit traded him to Houston.
Ken Giles pitched a scoreless ninth for his second save.
Nick Tropeano (1-2) retired the first 11 batters he faced, striking out six.
With two outs in the fourth, Tropeano walked Carlos Correa and Josh Reddick and hit Yuli Gurriel to load the bases. Bregman cleared them for a 3-0 lead.
Altuve’s sixth-inning homer came on a 79 mph hanging slider. He hit 24 homers in each of the past two seasons.
Marisnick also put one into the Crawford Boxes in left field, making it 5-2 in the seventh.
Correa extended his hitting streak to 10 games with a double in the sixth.
Pujols hit a line drive homer to deep left-center in the seventh for his fifth home run of the season. A single by Andrelton Simmons and a double from Cozart cut Houston’s lead to 4-2 later in the inning.
UP NEXT
Angels: Andrew Heaney (0-1, 9.64 ERA) will make his third start of the season on Friday at home against the Yankees, seeking his first winning decision since last August. Heaney was charged with the loss in last Friday’s start against San Francisco, where he allowed seven runs on six hits with two walks in 4 1/3 innings.
Astros: Dallas Keuchel (1-3, 3.10) enters his sixth start of the season hoping to build off of his first win of the season as the Astros host Oakland on Friday. In his last start, Keuchel held the White Sox to one run on four hits in six innings in a 6-1 win.
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