Kyle Tucker homers twice as Astros edge Angels in extra innings

HOUSTON —  Kyle Tucker homered twice to give him a major league-leading 17, and Jeremy Peña’s RBI single with one out in the 10th inning lifted the Houston Astros to a 6-5 win over the Angels on Tuesday night.

The Angels intentionally walked Yordan Alvarez with no outs in the 10th and Tucker on second as the automatic runner. Both players advanced on a fly out by Alex Bregman before Peña singled off Carlos Estévez (0-3) on a line drive to right field to give Houston the victory.

“Great teams have to be able to win coming from behind,” Peña said. “Hard-fought game from both sides and we’ve got to keep playing good baseball.”

Angels manager Ron Washington was asked about the performance of Estévez.

“I thought he was throwing the ball well,” he said. “You’ve got to give Peña credit. Their first five hitters are dangerous — very dangerous. We put ourselves in a good position to win it, but in the end they got it.”

Tucker homered in the first and his second solo shot tied it in the seventh. Alvarez added a solo home run and Jon Singleton hit a two-run homer for the Astros.

Josh Hader (3-3) pitched two scoreless innings, striking out the side in the 10th for the win.

Luis Rengifo and Kevin Pillar both homered for the Angels and Nolan Schanuel tied a career high with three hits.

The score was tied with two out in the seventh when Pillar sent a fastball from Bryan Abreu into the first row of the seats in left field to put the Angels up 5-4.

Tucker tied it with one out in the bottom of the inning on his shot to right field. Tucker tied a franchise record for most homers through Houston’s first 49 games.

“Every time he comes to the plate, you’re just expecting him to do something awesome and he is doing stuff that only a few players can do,” manager Joe Espada said. “He’s definitely one of the best players in this league and he’s really picking us up right now.”

Fans were chanting “M-V-P, M-V-P” when Tucker came to the plate late in Tuesday’s game.

“I just try and put together good at-bats and be pretty selective up there and just kind of take my walks and try and do damage when they throw it across the plate,” he said.

Schanuel hit a leadoff single before Rengifo’s shot to right-center put the Angels up in the first inning.

There was one out in the bottom of the inning when Tucker connected off Griffin Canning to cut the lead to 2-1. The Astros tied it when Alvarez sent the next pitch into the seats in right field for his first homer since May 9.

Luis Guillorme singled with one out in the fourth before scoring when Zach Neto doubled off the wall in left field to put the Angels up 3-2. There were two outs in the inning when Rengifo singled on a liner to center field to send Neto home.

Peña doubled down the left-field line with one out in the sixth before Singleton smacked his fifth homer to straightaway center field to tie at 4-4.

Houston starter Cristian Javier yielded a season-high eight hits with four runs in four innings in his third start since sitting out 18 games because of neck discomfort.

Canning gave up five hits and two runs in five innings for the Angels.

Up next

Houston RHP Hunter Brown (1-4, 7.71 ERA) opposes LHP Tyler Anderson (4-4, 2.72) in the series finale Wednesday.