Logan O’Hoppe’s walk-off homer pushes Angels past Astros

ANAHEIM — The Angels didn’t hold a lead for long on Sunday afternoon, but they held the last one.

Logan O’Hoppe hit a walk-off two-run homer in the ninth inning to lift the Angels to a 9-7 win against the Houston Astros in the finale of their three-game series at Angel Stadium.

After Kevin Pillar delivered a one-out single in the ninth, O’Hoppe lifted the first pitch he saw from Houston closer Josh Hader (3-4) deep toward the left-field corner.

Trey Cabbage leaped and the ball briefly settled in his glove, but it was jarred loose when he slammed against the wall and dropped into the seats for the walk-off homer.

O’Hoppe called it a bizarre moment, from the uncertainty of the home run, to almost passing up Pillar on the basepaths while waiting to see if the ball was caught, to the player who was trying to make the catch. Cabbage and O’Hoppe were briefly teammates on the Angels last season.

“I thought he caught it at first,” O’Hoppe said. “To even get a glove on it was impressive so, selfishly, I’m happy it dropped.”

O’Hoppe had four hits and scored three runs for the Angels (25-40), who trailed 7-5 heading to the bottom of the eighth.

Pillar had two hits and also scored three runs, while Nolan Schanuel and Mickey Moniak contributed two RBIs each.

It was a surprising offensive outburst considering the Angels were held to one run in each of the first two games of the series and were up against three-time American League Cy Young Award winner Justin Verlander.

“What stood out the most was how they handled Verlander,” Angels manager Ron Washington said of his team. “We worked him, made him throw the ball in the strike zone. We didn’t do a whole lot of chasing, and he’s the kind of pitcher that gets a lot of chase.”

Angels starter Patrick Sandoval allowed five runs and eight hits in 5 2/3 innings. He struck out four and walked three.

Matt Moore, Luis Garcia and Carlos Estevez (1-3) each contributed a shutout inning in relief.

“It was just an awesome day,” Washington said.

Jose Altuve was the biggest menace for the Astros (30-36) on Sunday. He went 4 for 5 with a two-run homer, three RBIs and two runs scored.

O’Hoppe doubled to lead off the eighth for his third hit of the game and Zach Neto came through with a one-out RBI double to cut it to 7-6.

After a wild pitch moved Neto to third and Moniak walked in the same at-bat, Michael Stefanic, who was recalled from Triple-A Salt Lake on Saturday, hit a check-swing grounder to second to score Neto and tie it 7-7.

“We’re not done until 27 outs are made,” Neto said.

The Angels took their first lead of the series in the second inning after Pillar one-hopped the wall in right-center field for a double, O’Hoppe singled just in front of Mauricio Dubon in left before Schanuel delivered a sacrifice fly for a 1-0 lead.

It didn’t last long as Dubon walked to lead off the third after falling behind 0-2. Jose Abreu then lined a two-strike pitch into left field for a single. After striking out Chas McCormick, Altuve dropped an RBI single into center field to tie it 1-1.

Sandoval then got two strikes on Alex Bregman before he grounded an RBI double just inside the third-base line to give Houston a 2-1 lead. Yordan Alvarez was walked intentionally to load the bases and Jeremy Pena followed with an RBI single through the left side to make it 3-1.

The Angels tied the game back up in the fourth.

Willie Calhoun reached on a swinging bunt to start the inning, Pillar was hit by a pitch and O’Hoppe grounded a single to left to load the bases. Schanuel then delivered his second sacrifice fly of the game to cut the lead to 3-2.

“Two sac flies, and we needed them,” Washington said.

After another hit batter by Verlander, Moniak dropped a bunt in front of Bregman at third. He got a force at second just as Pillar crossed the plate to tie it 3-3.

The Angels moved back ahead in the fifth after Luis Rengifo fouled off three two-strike pitches before grounding a single through the right side. Rengifo stole second and scored on a single by Calhoun for a 4-3 lead.

Sandoval got the first two outs of the sixth, but couldn’t finish off the inning. Dubon singled to left and came home on a double down the left-field line by Jose Abreu, tying the score at 4-4 and ending the day for Sandoval.

Hunter Strickland entered and surrendered an RBI single to No. 9 hitter Chas McCormick for a 5-4 lead. Altuve then hit the next pitch over the fence in left-center field for a 7-4 lead.

Bregman did not come out for the bottom of the sixth after he was hit by a pitch from Strickland. Duhon replaced him at third and immediately committed the first of his two fielding errors on a hard ground ball by O’Hoppe, who eventually scored on a two-out single by Moniak to trim the lead to 7-5.

It marked the first time in 16 games the Angels scored more than four runs.

“We outlasted them,” Washington said. “Offense deserves some credit because the last couple days they shut us down.”