Alvarez scores among his 3 hits and Brown pitches 6 shutout innings as Astros beat Angels 6-1

ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — Yordan Alvarez continued his streak with three more hits, including a two-run homer, Hunter Brown pitched six shutout innings and the Houston Astros beat the Los Angeles Angels 6-1 on Saturday night .

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

Alvarez, 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, while increasing his batting average 31 points to .296 during that span.

“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, Alvarez drove a sinker from Tyler Anderson (5-6) into the raised stands in right field 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,” Alvarez said through a translator.

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 in the first. 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 get the ball to Alvarez 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.

Angels: 3B Anthony Rendon (hamstring) fielded grounders for the second straight day.

The series ends with Houston RHP Justin Verlander (3-2, 3.63 ERA) taking the mound. LHP Patrick Sandoval (2-8, 5.00 ERA) will go for Los Angeles.