Angels’ struggles against Astros continue in lopsided loss

Yordan Álvarez continued his streak with three more hits, including a two-run homer, Hunter Brown pitched six shutout innings and the Houston Astros beat the Angels 6-1 on Saturday night.

Nolan Schanuel led the Angels’ run with a solo shot to right center in the seventh, the second time in three games that the first baseman homered.

Álvarez, who also had two doubles, has hit safely in 10 of his last 11 games. The left fielder went 19-for-43 with four homers and 11 RBIs, increasing his batting average 31 points to .296.

“He’s been hitting the ball hard the last few weeks. He puts the ball in the air and starts driving it,” Astros manager Joe Espada said. “A lot of the balls he was hitting a few weeks ago were hard on the ground. Now he’s finding his zone and throwing strikes. And when he does, he’s a scary hitter.

After Alex Bregman boarded on an infield single in the fifth, Álvarez drove a Tyler Anderson (5-6) sinker into the raised right-field stands to give the Astros a 4-0 lead.

“A swing like that gives me good energy and tells me my swing is in the right place,” Álvarez said through an interpreter.

Brown (2-5) had his fourth straight quality start. He allowed two hits, walked four and struck out six.

The only serious traffic the right-hander faced came in the first inning when the Angels had the bases loaded with two outs. But Brown struck out Matt Thaiss to end the inning.

“He had a hard time making his changeup, but he found a way,” Espada said. “The fastball was explosive and he threw good breaking balls.”

Houston took a 2-0 lead in the third as its first four batters reached base. Chas McCormick led off with a triple to right after Jo Adell couldn’t make a play against the wall and scored when Jose Altuve lined a base hit to left.

The Astros had the bases loaded with no outs, but couldn’t get anything going until Jake Meyers’ RBI single with two outs. Bregman attempted to score from second, but was easily thrown out at home by left fielder Taylor Ward.

In the first, Houston had runners on second and third with one out when Altuve was grounded out at home after a superb throw by Angels shortstop Zach Neto on a Jeremy Peña grounder.

Anderson is ninth in the majors with a 2.63 ERA, but has allowed four runs for only the second time in 13 starts. The left-hander allowed seven hits and struck out three in six innings.

“They put some balls into play that found holes. He tried to put a ball inside to Álvarez and it sank over the plate and he caught it,” Angels manager Ron Washington said of Anderson.

Houston added two in the eighth on RBI singles by Yainer Diaz and Mauricio Dubón.

Injury Update: Angels third baseman Anthony Rendon (hamstring) fielded grounders for the second straight day.

Following: The series ends with Houston right-hander Justin Verlander (3-2, 3.63 ERA) taking the mound. Left-hander Patrick Sandoval (2-8, 5.00 ERA) will start for the Angels.