Slugging Angels seeking better outcomes in close contests

HOUSTON -- The Angels were in competitive games in all four contests against the Astros, but after dropping the series finale, 8-3, on Monday at Daikin Park, Los Angeles believes it could have had more.

“[That didn’t] feel great, especially when you have opportunities to take the series,” interim manager Ray Montgomery said of the series split. “We played a little better, but we have some things that we need to continue to work on.”

The Halos’ offense showed signs of improvement over the final three games against the Astros after scoring just 23 runs over a 10-game stretch from Aug. 18-29. In the final three games in Houston, the Angels scratched across 10 runs -- with a lot of power.

“We just have to keep emphasizing what we are trying to do,” Montgomery said. “Battle in the at-bat, maybe try to extend some at-bats, too. We know how we’re built, we’ve talked about it all year. We’re built on the home run, but that doesn’t mean you can play solely that way. Guys can extend [at-bats] any way they can. Look to shoot some holes. We had some good ABs, but we didn’t come through.”

Zach Neto led off the fourth with a solo home run to left, and after a Mike Trout one-out single, Jo Adell launched a Statcast-projected 396-foot two-run homer to left to give the Angels a 3-2 lead.

For Neto, the home run increased his career high total to 25 this season, while Adell took over the team lead with his 31st deep blast of the year.

Trout collected hits in consecutive games for the first time since hitting in three straight games from Aug. 18-20. Trout’s fourth-inning single on Monday was smacked at 109.1 mph.

“For where we were in the game, and having a 3-3 game there [after the fourth], we were still in that game,” Montgomery said. “A couple better decisions, maybe, with pitches. If we had handled the ball a little bit cleaner, we might have had a little different outcome there. Overall, I liked the way the guys battled.”

After allowing 27 runs in the final two games against Texas before heading into this series with the Astros, the Angels’ pitching staff allowed only 11 runs over four games in Houston -- with eight coming in the finale.

Yusei Kikuchi surrendered five runs on eight hits with six strikeouts in 5 2/3 innings. He’s now at 999 career strikeouts, just one shy from becoming the fourth Japanese-born pitcher to reach 1,000 in the Major Leagues.

The left-hander was coming off an outing where he was tagged for six runs in four innings on Tuesday against the Rangers. He has allowed at least four runs in four of his past five starts.

“I thought [Kikuchi] was good,” Montgomery said. “He bounced back from the first inning. It was kind of an erratic strike zone. We saw that a little bit. I thought the stuff was really good. He rebounded, and we saw some real good heaters. He made some pitches where he didn’t want them and got hurt by that.”

Kikuchi threw 43 sliders, 40 four-seam fastballs, 13 changeups and 1 sinker. He got 13 whiffs on 51 swings, with six whiffs coming on 20 swings against the fastball.

“I think I had real good stuff today,” Kikuchi said through an interpreter. “Probably pitch selection maybe did me in. I think the stuff is there. I think I’m close to where I want to be.”

However, when the Astros made contact against the fastball, they hit it hard with an average exit velocity of 99.9 mph.

Kikuchi said that he might have been getting too much of the zone with two strikes.

“I could have executed a little better,” Kikuchi said.

The Angels now head to Kansas City to finish out their 10-game, three-city trip, where they’ll face another team battling for postseason contention.

“I thought we played great,” Neto said. “We got off to a slow start hitting early in the games, but we battled pretty well. The bullpen saved us quite a bit. Winning two here was big time for us. We came up short on the last one. We have to keep that mindset moving forward into Kansas City.”