Cristian Javier stays hot, so do Astros in rout of Angels

In the Astros’ 8-1 win over the Angels, Javier hurled seven innings of one-run ball with a career-high 14 strikeouts. He yielded just one hit, a first-inning solo home run to Shohei Ohtani, and no walks on 99 pitches.

In his last two starts, Javier has struck out 27 of 45 batters faced while allowing one hit and one walk. His strikeouts are the most in a two-game span by a pitcher to allow just one hit in baseball’s modern era – since 1900.

A Houston lineup missing two of its best hitters destroyed Anaheim starter Michael Lorenzen for eight runs and three home runs across three innings. Seven of the Astros’ eight hits against Lorenzen registered an exit velocity of at least 95 mph.

Without Michael Brantley and Yordan Alvarez, the Astros matched their third-highest run total against a division foe this season. Yuli Gurriel, Jake Meyers and Chas McCormick each struck home runs. J.J. Matijevic’s third and fourth MLB hits were not homers like his first two, but he went 2-for-4 with two doubles and an RBI.

Javier’s brilliance made it all an afterthought. He became the fourth Astros pitcher to record 13 or more strikeouts in consecutive games, the first since Gerrit Cole did so in 2019.

Javier had not allowed a run in 5 1/3 innings pitched against the Angels this season, though his two prior appearances were out of the bullpen in the season’s first month.

ALSO SEE: Latest MLB scores and stats powered by ESPN

That trend was spoiled in Friday’s opening frame. Javier struck out Taylor Ward and Mike Trout before Ohtani walloped a full-count slider to right field for his 18th home run of the season.

Undeterred, Javier retired the next 19 batters he faced, striking out a dozen. When he concluded the seventh inning with a punchout of Jared Walsh, it gave him 12 consecutive innings with at least two strikeouts.

After Ohtani’s blast, Houston took a 2-1 lead in the second inning off solo home runs by Gurriel and Meyers.

The Astros busted the game wide open with a six-run third inning in which five of the runs were earned. Lorenzen was in trouble right away when Jeremy Peña reached on a fielding error by Angels third baseman Tyler Wade and Kyle Tucker singled through the right side to put runners on the corners. After Peña scored on Alex Bregman’s flyout, Lorenzen had a chance to contain the damage but instead walked Gurriel.

Matijevic punished him with an RBI double bounced just fair down the third-base line. Meyers had two men in scoring position and brought them both home on a single. McCormick’s two-run homer widened the lead to 8-1 and essentially called curtains on Lorenzen’s outing.

Javier’s continued mastery left no doubt about the result. The sizable lead allowed catcher Korey Lee, called up by the Astros earlier Friday, to make his major league debut with an eighth-inning pinch hit, a flyout to left field.

The game was the first meeting between the Astros and Angels since April 20, when the Angels had a 1 1/2-game lead over the Astros in the AL West.

Since then, the Astros are 43-21 and the Angels are 29-37. Friday’s win widened Houston’s division lead to 12 1/2 games.

More Astros News