HOUSTON (AP) — Shohei Ohtani didn't have a great start. Mike Trout, Andrelton Simmons and the Los Angeles Angels did plenty to finish off the Houston Astros.
Trout hit his major league-leading 10th homer and the Angels overcame another shaky outing by Ohtani to beat Houston 8-7 Tuesday night, tying a team record with their 11th straight road win.
Simmons homered twice with a career-high five RBIs, connecting for a tiebreaking, three-run drive in the seventh inning. The Angels also won 11 in a row outside Anaheim in 1988.
Ohtani yielded four runs on six hits and five walks in 5 1/3 innings. The two-way star from Japan was tagged by Boston in his previous start and left after two innings because of a blister problem.
"You look at the five walks, but I tell you, Shohei wasn't missing by much," manager Mike Scioscia said. "As the game went on he got really good command of his split, threw some terrific pitches. Just had to work hard ... he had good stuff, gave us a chance to win, and that's all you can ask for."
Ohtani struck out seven and has fanned 26 this year, a record for an Angels pitcher after the first four career games of his career.
He said he felt better than he did in his last outing.
"To get my pitch count down, I've got to throw first-pitch strikes," he said through a translator. "That's the key. Also, the Astros have a very good lineup and they made me work really hard. If the pitch count goes up, there's nothing I can do about that."
The Angels jumped on Charlie Morton early to build a 4-1 lead. Derek Fisher hit a two-run homer for Houston in the fifth off Ohtani and Brian McCann added a two-run homer off Jose Alvarez in the sixth to put the Astros ahead.
