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Pujols tries again to victimize Astros

Jun 23, 2015 - 3:49 PM (SportsNetwork.com) - While the Houston Astros had their franchise-run at the plate halted, Albert Pujols continues to turn back the clock for the Los Angeles Angels.

Pujols and the Angels look to pick up a quick series victory over the AL West- leading Astros on Tuesday night in the middle contest of a three-game set.

The 35-year-old Pujols hit a pair of home runs in last night's 4-3 victory, giving him an American League-leading 23 on the season. He has gone deep 15 times over his past 24 games and has 12 homers in June, one shy of tying a club record for the most in any one month.

"This is the best I've felt in two or three years," Pujols admitted. "I just try not to get too caught up in anything."

Despite Pujols' efforts, Los Angeles needed a manufactured run in the eighth inning to snap its two-game losing streak. Erick Aybar reached on a base hit, took second on a wild pitch and then stole third base. That allowed Daniel Robertson to lay down a safety squeeze that rolled up the first-base line.

Houston's Chris Carter flipped the ball home wide and Aybar slid in safely as the Angels pulled within 4 1/2 games of the Astros in the division.

"That play they scored on (in the eighth) was hard to defend," Astros manager A. J. Hinch said.

Domingo Santana hit a solo homer for the Astros, who have dropped three of four on the heels of a five-game winning streak. It marked the first time in nine games that Houston did not hit multiple homers, ending a franchise record-setting run.

Astros outfielder George Springer went 0-for-4 to snap a 14-game hitting streak, while second baseman Jose Altuve went 1-for-4 with an RBI in his return to the lineup. He hadn't started the previous four games due to a hamstring issue.

C.J. Wilson takes aim at a third straight winning start tonight for the Angels.

After yielding 11 runs in consecutive losses, Wilson has given up just one run in back-to-back wins over Oakland and Arizona. The left-hander hurled seven scoreless frames in a 1-0 decision over the Athletics, then limited the hosting Diamondbacks to a run on eight hits on Thursday. He did not walk a batter and struck out nine, moving to 5-5 on the year with a 3.39 earned run average.

Wilson, 34, is 7-6 with a pair of saves and 4.05 ERA in 24 games against the Astros, including 14 starts.

The Astros start tonight Collin McHugh, who is 7-3 with a 5.04 ERA on the season.

McHugh turned 28 on Friday, one day after he beat the Colorado Rockies 8-4. He lasted six innings and gave up just three runs -- all on a first-inning homer to Carlos Gonzalez -- despite walking five and giving up four hits. The righty did strike out eight.

Hinch was impressed by how McHugh recovered from the first inning.

"I've said this to him in a couple of his outings: 'If I would have told you 2 1/2 hours ago that you were going to go six strong innings, you wouldn't have believed me,'" Hinch said. "He continued to battle. I know he was very frustrated with the pitch to CarGo, but six innings and three runs, that's still a good outing."

McHugh is 2-2 in five career starts against the Angels with a 2.03 ERA. He did not factor into his most recent start against them on May 7, hurling 7 1/3 innings of two-run ball with seven strikeouts.

The Angels and Astros split a four-game set in Anaheim in the most recent meeting from May 7-10.