Right-hander Dylan Bundy has been the Angels’ ace this season, and he served as a stopper in Thursday’s series finale against the Rangers to avoid a three-game sweep.

Bundy struck out a season-high 12 batters over 7 1/3 strong innings and was backed by homers from Mike Trout and Jared Walsh in a much-needed 6-2 win over Texas at Globe Life Field. Trout’s homer was his 16th -- and longest -- of the year, putting him back atop the Major League leaderboard. The Angels improved to 18-27 at the three-quarter mark of the season and trail the second-place Astros by four games.

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“That is the legend of Dylan Bundy,” Angels manager Joe Maddon said. “He pitches, he's a really good pitcher. He has the ability to throw a fastball, a real curve, a slider and a changeup for strike, and he knows how to elevate on top of that, so he really gives the hitter a lot to think about. And that's also why he can pitch more deeply to the game."

Bundy allowed two runs on four hits, and the first run came after giving up a leadoff triple to Leody Taveras in the first. Taveras scored on an RBI groundout from Rougned Odor, and Bundy settled down from there, retiring 21 of the next 23 batters he faced through the seventh inning. But he gave up a run in his final frame after issuing a leadoff walk and then an RBI triple to Anderson Tejada. He was removed after striking out Jeff Mathis for the first out.

It was the most strikeouts for Bundy since he struck out 14 against the White Sox on May 24, 2018. He's now struck out 67 batters in 58 innings this year, posting a 2.48 ERA in nine starts. It’s been a huge improvement on his career 4.67 ERA in five seasons with the Orioles coming into '20, and his 4.79 ERA in 30 starts last year.

"Pitching in Baltimore, in the AL East, in that ballpark creates resolve within you," Maddon said. "The AL East is a great training ground for pitchers, it really is. You have to get hitters out in the strike zone, there's probably not a lot of chase. And that's why you always got to like a guy that has had success there. And that's the very simple reason. He knows how to pitch in the zone and get people out."

Bundy had all of his stuff working, as he was able to spot his fastball and use his slider and changeup to get swings and misses. He registered eight whiffs with fastballs, seven with his slider and four with his changeup. All of his outs came via strikeouts, grounders or popups -- no fly-ball outs.

“I don't ever like to say my best pitch in a game, but the curveball was working early on in the first six or seven, and then I just kind of lost feeling in that eighth inning there with almost every pitch,” Bundy said. “So I had to battle through and just try to get one out.”

Bundy was given an early lead thanks to a three-run blast from Walsh off right-hander Kyle Gibson in the first. Walsh also tripled to lead off the fourth and has started to look much better at the plate after a slow start to the year. Taylor Ward also went 3-for-4.

“I watched some video on Gibson and knew he has a really good changeup when it’s at the bottom of the zone,” Walsh said. “So I got one up and put a pretty good swing on it and got lucky and it rode out of the park.”

Trout’s solo shot -- a 449-foot blast -- came in the fifth off Gibson and moved him into sole possession of the Major League homers lead, passing the Padres’ Fernando Tatis Jr. and the Twins’ Nelson Cruz. Trout has never led the league in homers in his 10-year career.

All helped the Angels keep their slim postseason hopes alive as they head into a three-game series at Coors Field with 15 games remaining on the schedule.

“You pretty much got to be near perfect obviously, but I still prefer the one-day-at-a-time method,” Maddon said. “We're going to Colorado. They're good and it's tough to play there, also you got to be on your best behavior. We have to pitch consistently well, we have to know what to expect out of the bullpen, catch the ball on defense and then we can get hot.”