Los Angeles Angels shortstop Zach Neto (9) rounds second base after hitting a three-run home run against the Houston Astros during the fifth inning at Daikin Park.
HOUSTON - It's safe to say the Los Angeles Angels brought their bats with them to Houston.
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The Angels exploded for an 18-3 blowout of the division rival Houston Astros and Zach Neto, batting in the cleanup spot once again, led the way with a career-high five hits and seven RBIs, tying Freddie Patek for the most RBIs in a game by an Angels shortstop while going a triple shy of the cycle.
Neto knocked in all of those runs with three singles, a double and a three-run home run and while he got things started in the first inning with a RBI single and the Angels added three more runs in the second inning to take a 4-2 lead over the Astros, it was the fourth inning where they really turned things up a notch.
The Angels put up six runs in the fourth inning with a mixture of small ball courtesy of a sacrifice bunt from Tyler Heineman, hits from Neto, Moisés Ballesteros, Vaughn Grissom, Josh Lowe and Adam Frazier and walks from Wade Meckler and Mike Trout to set the stage for an offensive explosion that put the Angels well ahead at 10-2, but of course, they didn't stop there.
A Massive Fifth
Two straight singles from the Angels started the fifth before a scary moment where Meckler was hit square in the head with a pitch from Astros pitcher Bryan King to load the bases. The pitch from King mostly caught Meckler's helmet and the scrappy Angels outfielder was able to walk off the field on his own power, but he was replaced in the game by Jose Siri.
Nolan Schanuel drove in another run by grounding into a fielder's choice to second base, who tried to turn two and end the inning. Schanuel beat out the return throw to keep the inning alive and set the stage for Neto, who ripped a four-seam fastball from the top of the zone deep into the left-center field seats for a three-run home run to put the Angels ahead a whopping 14-2.
"My teammates put me in a really good spot. If it wasn't for Meck [Meckler], unfortunately he wore it off the head, but if it wasn't for him getting on and Nolan [Schanuel] beating a double play, the inning would have not kept going. It's just the small things that matter and we're making sure to put a big emphasis on it to finish the year," Neto said [via ABTV]
Neto drove in two more runs in the seventh inning with a double and just to make things safe, Denzer Guzman hit a two-tun home run in the ninth after the Astros put outfielder LaMonte Wade Jr. on the mount to try and finish the game to make it an 18-2 game, the most runs the Angels had scored in a game since a franchise record 25-run explosion against the Colorado Rockies in 2023 and the most the Angels had scored against the Astros in franchise history.
Spoiling the Astros
The Angels may have been offensively challenged this season and found themselves near or at the bottom of baseball for most of the season, but night's like Thursday's game show that there is still some juice in the lineup and to have that kind of performance against the Astros, who are in the middle of a race for the American League West title, does make things just a little bit sweeter.
"Always taking it serious [against] in-division opponents. especially a team that's in the playoffs," Neto said. "We look at it as like if we're not in it and then we got to beat people so they can't be in it. And who other than the Astros?"
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