Major League Baseball
BOXSCORE | RECAP
LA Angels 5, Houston 1
When: 7:10 PM ET, Saturday, April 5, 2014
Where: Minute Maid Park, Houston, Texas
Temperature: Indoors
Umpires: Home - Eric Cooper, 1B - Chris Guccione, 2B - Pat Hoberg, 3B - Tom Hallion
Attendance: 28515

Angels 5, Astros 1: Josh Hamilton homered for the second straight game - a two-run shot - and Tyler Skaggs pitched eight solid innings as visiting Los Angeles made it two straight over Houston.

David Freese, Howie Kendrick and Kole Calhoun also drove in runs, while Hamilton had three hits and is off to a 9-for-18 start for the Angels, who finished with 14 hits after recording 15 in Friday's 11-1 victory. Skaggs (1-0) yielded one unearned run, four hits, walked one and struck out five while Freese scored twice.

Dallas Keuchel (0-1) allowed four runs, eight hits, walked two and struck out five in five innings for Houston, which mustered only four hits - all singles. The Astros, who tied for the fourth-fewest runs in the major leagues last season, have scored 13 runs in their first five games of 2014.

Jose Altuve reached on an infield single with two outs in the first inning, stole second and scored on third baseman John McDonald's error to give the Astros a 1-0 lead. The Angels tied the game 1-1 in the second when Freese led off with a single and scored two batters later on Kendrick's double.

Collin Cowgill began the fifth with a double and scored on Freese's two-out single, and Hamilton crushed Keuchel's next offering - after a visit from pitching coach Brent Strom - into the right-field seats to make it 4-1. Erick Aybar led off the eighth with a triple and scored two batters later on Calhoun's ground single to left.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Astros C Jason Castro (ankle) missed his second straight game as did CF Dexter Fowler, who was admitted to a hospital Friday night with a stomach virus but released Saturday. ... Los Angeles has won seven of its last eight games in Houston. ... Angels 1B Albert Pujols, who is off to a 4-for-21 start and remains stuck on 1,499 career RBIs, was hit by a pitch in the seventh inning and forced out at second by right fielder L.J. Hoes after getting a bad read on Freese's would-be flare hit.
Top Game Performances
Starting Pitchers
LA Angels   Houston
Tyler Skaggs Player Dallas Keuchel
Win W/L Loss
8.0 IP 5.0
5 Strikeouts 5
4 Hits 8
0.00 ERA 7.20
Hitting
LA Angels   Houston
Josh Hamilton Player Jose Altuve
3 Hits 1
2 RBI 0
1 HR 0
6 TB 1
.600 Avg .333
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Hits HR TB Avg LOB K RBI BB SB Errors
LA Angels 14 1 22 .341 28 11 5 2 1 2
Houston 4 0 4 .129 9 6 0 1 1 1