Valdez fans career-high 11 as Astros beat Angels 11-4

Framber Valdez struck out a career-high 11 in seven strong innings and Carlos Correa drove in three runs as the Houston Astros snapped a three-game skid with an 11-4 win over the Los Angeles Angels on Monday night.

Angels star Albert Pujols passed Alex Rodriguez on the career RBIs list with a single for his 2,087th run batted in. Hank Aaron is the record holder at 2,297 — Babe Ruth is listed next on some charts with 2,214, even though 224 occurred before the RBI became an official statistic in 1920.

Houston led by one with two outs and the bases loaded in the sixth inning when Correa laced a double to the left field corner to send everyone home and make it 8-4. Kyle Tucker, who hit a solo homer in the second inning, followed with a double that scored Correa to pad the lead.

Valdez (3-2) yielded six hits and four runs to get his third straight win. He got better as the game went on and retired the last seven batters he faced with five strikeouts, ending his night by fanning Shohei Ohtani and Mike Trout.

The Astros got back on track after being swept in a three-game series this weekend in San Diego that came that came after they won a season-high eight games in a row.

Justin Upton homered and David Fletcher had three hits for the Angels, who have lost six of seven.

Patrick Sandoval (0-4) took the loss after the Astros jumped on him for seven hits and five runs in 2 2/3 innings.

Tucker gave Houston a early 1-0 lead with no outs in the second inning when he homered for the second straight game. An RBI single by Josh Reddick with one out in the inning made it 2-0.

The Angels cut the lead to 2-1 on an RBI single by Fletcher in the third.

Michael Brantley hit a run-scoring double in the third to make it 4-1. A wild pitch by Sandoval allowed Brantley to advance to third and he scored on a single by Reddick.

There were two outs in the fourth when Upton snapped a 1-for-39 skid with his solo home run to the seats in right field to cut the lead to 5-2.

Anthony Rendon and Pujols hit back-to-back RBI singles with two outs in the fifth to get the Angels within 5-4 before Correa’s big hit in the sixth.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Astros: CF George Springer exited the game in the sixth inning after he was hit by a pitch just above the left elbow. He has a bruised left elbow and X-rays were negative. ... Ace Justin Verlander threw 20 pitches on Sunday and manager Dusty Baker got a positive report that he felt good after the session. Verlander has been on the injured list since July 25 with a strained right forearm.

EYE ON THE STORM

Thursday’s game between these teams has been moved to Tuesday and will be played as part of a doubleheader because of Tropical Storm Laura.

The Astros were supposed to wrap up a four-game series with the Angels on Thursday afternoon. Instead, they will play a doubleheader starting at 4:05 p.m. EDT on Tuesday. Laura could make landfall on the Gulf coast late Wednesday night or early Thursday morning.

Wednesday’s game, which was scheduled to start at 9:10 p.m. Eastern, was moved up to 1:10 p.m because of the impending storm.

UP NEXT

Houston’s Cristian Javier (2-1, 3.55 ERA) will oppose left-hander Jose Suarez (0-1, 33.75) in the first game of Tuesday’s doubleheader. Julio Teheran (0-2, 10.38) will start for Los Angeles in Game 2. The Astros haven’t announced their starter for the nightcap of the twin bill.

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