HOUSTON -- The reality of an 0-3 start -- and the overreactions that come with it -- were staring the Astros in the face for the first half of Saturday’s game against the Angels, who never trailed Houston in the first two games of the series and had a comfortable six-run lead in the fifth inning at Daikin Park.
The Angels had a 96-percent win probability after Astros slugger Yordan Alvarez struck out for the second out in the fifth inning, forcing a few fans to head to the exits early to beat traffic. They missed a comeback to remember.
The never-say-die Astros scored 11 unanswered runs, including eight runs after there were two outs in the sixth inning, to storm back and stun the Angels, 11-9, for their first win of 2026. The six-run comeback matched Houston’s biggest come-from-behind win from 2025 and erased the offensive frustration of the first two games.
“I felt very happy to get the first win of the season,” said third baseman Isaac Paredes, who followed Alvarez in the fifth with a two-run double to get Houston’s scoring started. “It was a beautiful comeback, so it was great to get the first win.”
The Astros sent 12 batters to the plate in the eighth and tallied their most runs in an inning since putting 10 runs on the Dodgers in the sixth inning last July 4 at Dodger Stadium. It was the first time the Astros scored at least 11 runs without a homer since May 22, 2018.
Paredes scored on a Carlos Correa single to cut the Angels’ lead to 6-3. The floodgates opened in the sixth, helped along by a pair of Angels throwing errors, two walks and a wild pitch.
“That was a big swing,” Astros manager Joe Espada said of Paredes’ first hit of the season. “I thought the righty was going to come in the game, but he put a good swing on [Angels starter Reid] Detmers there and kind of got us going.”
The Astros, who were 1-for-14 with runners in scoring position in the first two games of the season, had some clutch hits, too, including a tapper in front of the plate by Correa that scored Joey Loperfido from third, followed by a throwing error by catcher Logan O’Hoppe that allowed Alvarez to follow Loperfido home with the tying run.
The Astros were just getting started.
“We forced them to make pitches with runners in scoring position, we stayed with our plan,” Espada said. “The quality of the at-bats were exactly who we are when we wait around and not let the pitcher dictate. The pitcher is in trouble and let’s build on that and get big hits, and we got a ton of those.”
Christian Walker’s line drive single against a Walbert Urena 99.3 sinker came off the bat at 104.3 mph and glanced off the pitcher and then the glove of second baseman Oswald Peraza, scoring Paredes from third to give Houston its first lead of the season, 7-6.
“I think we were craving that,” Walker said. “We knew it was in there. We hit a lot of balls hard [Friday] and were finding some barrels. There was a little bit of bad luck, but proud of the guys for sticking to it. Any time you come back like that, huge momentum. But to prove to yourselves you can rally late -- doesn’t have to be a huge first inning. We have a good lineup and the more we can trust that the better.”
With the bases loaded, Yainer Diaz hit a first-pitch fastball near the hands and poked it through the right side of the infield to score a pair, and Jake Meyers followed with a two-run double off the glove of right fielder Jo Adell at the wall for an 11-6 lead. The Astros were 7-for-20 with runners in scoring position.
“I think we all knew it was there, but it was nice to have results,” Meyers said. “We got the first win out of the way and now we got to back it up tomorrow.”