Astros’ early problems exposed in losses to Angels
The Astros dropped their first two games to the Angels as missed chances, strikeouts, and shaky pitching exposed early concerns on both sides of the ball.
Astros’ early problems exposed in losses to Angels originally appeared on The Sporting News . Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here . The Houston Astros did not get blown out by bad luck in their first two games against the Los Angeles Angels .
They got beat in the exact areas that usually decide tight early-season games: timely hitting, pitch execution, and lineup depth. Thursday’s 3-0 loss was the cleaner example of the problem. Houston managed only three hits all night and never found a way to pressure Angels starter José Soriano for long.
The Astros did draw some walks, and Christian Walker’s seventh-inning double briefly hinted at life, but the offense never built a real inning. Too many at-bats ended with weak contact or strikeouts, and when Yordan Alvarez was pitched around, nobody behind him made the Angels pay. That issue carried into Friday’s 6-2 loss , even though the Astros actually hit the ball harder.
Houston finished with eight hits and a slightly better expected batting average than the Angels, but the damage still was not there. Alvarez homered, Carlos Correa and Jeremy Peña each collected multiple hits, and the club produced several balls with strong exit velocity. It just did not happen in the right sequence.