Kyle Tucker hit a grand slam and Zack Greinke threw seven shutout innings to lead the Houston Astros to 4-1 win against the Los Angeles Angels on Friday night in Anaheim, Calif.
Greinke (11-3) allowed two hits, struck out seven and didn't walk a batter. He improved to 6-0 with a 3.09 ERA against the Angels since 2015.
Ryan Pressly pitched a 1-2-3 ninth for his 19th save, wrapping up the opener of a three-game series.
Angels left-hander Patrick Sandoval couldn't make it through five innings for the first time in 13 starts. He allowed four runs and five hits in 4 2/3 innings, striking out three and walking two.
Sandoval (3-6) breezed through the first three innings before walking Carlos Correa and Yordan Alvarez to open the fourth. Aledmys Diaz then dropped a soft single into center to load the bases with no outs.
Tucker stepped to the plate and lifted the first pitch from Sandoval over the fence in right for a 4-0 lead.
It was the first grand slam of Tucker's major league career and the sixth by Houston this season. It was also the second grand slam allowed by the Angels in the past three games.
Sandoval was hoping to pitch well against the Astros, who drafted him in the 11th round in 2015 before trading him to the Angels for catcher Martin Maldonado midway through the 2018 season. Instead, he dropped to 0-3 against the Astros with a 9.77 ERA.
Greinke faced his only trouble in the second inning. Max Stassi hit a leadoff ground-rule double to right field and moved to third on a groundout. However, Greinke struck out Jo Adell and Brandon Marsh to end the threat.
Greinke retired the final 14 batters he faced before Kendall Graveman took over in the eighth.
Marsh ended an 0-for-15 stretch by the Angels with an eighth-inning single, and Adam Eaton was hit by a pitch to put a Los Angeles runner in scoring position for the first time since the second inning.
Shohei Ohtani pushed a two-out RBI single against the shift to make it 4-1.
--Field Level Media
Houston | LA Angels | |
Zack Greinke | Player | Patrick Sandoval |
Win | W/L | Loss |
7.0 | IP | 4.2 |
7 | Strikeouts | 3 |
2 | Hits | 5 |
0.00 | ERA | 7.71 |
Houston | LA Angels | |
Aledmys Diaz | Player | Brandon Marsh |
2 | Hits | 1 |
0 | RBI | 0 |
0 | HR | 0 |
2 | TB | 1 |
.500 | Avg | .333 |