Cuban Yordan Álvarez hit a two-run homer off Shohei Ohtani to reach 50 RBIs, the most in the majors, supporting a good job by Dominican Framber Valdez on Friday, in the victory of the Houston Astros by 8-2 over the Los Angeles Angels.
Valdez (6-4) allowed five hits spaced out over seven scoreless innings to extend his number of consecutive wins to four. The lefty, who struck out seven batters, has allowed just one combined run in his last three starts to improve his ERA to 2.16.
There was one out in the first inning when Álvarez hit his 15th home run of the season — making him the team leader — to make it 2-0. Rookie Corey Julks added a two-run shot off Ohtani (5-2) in the sixth to stretch the lead to 5-0.
Ohtani allowed a season-high nine hits. He tied his worst with five runs in six innings to suffer his second loss of the year.
As the leadoff hitter for the first time this season, the Japanese also had a fateful night, going 0-for-4 with two strikeouts and a walk.
For the Angels, Colombian Gio Urshela 4-1. Venezuelan Luis Rengifo 2-1 with a run scored.
For the Astros, Venezuelan José Altuve 4-0. The Dominican Jeremy Peña 3-1 with two runs scored. The Cubans Álvarez 4-2 with two runs scored and two RBIs, José Abreu 4-1. Puerto Rican Martín Maldonado 4-0.