Angels again rally late to hurt the Astros’ wild-card chances

Kole Calhoun had three hits and two RBIs, and the Los Angeles Angels scored nine runs in the final two innings to rally for the second consecutive game in a 10-4 victory over the Houston Astros on Saturday night.

It’s the third straight victory in this series for the Angels, who scored six runs in the ninth inning on Friday night to win 10-6.

It was another costly loss for the Astros, who fell to three games behind Baltimore for the second AL wild card.

Albert Pujols, Mike Trout and C.J. Cron each added two RBIs for Los Angeles.

The Angels trailed by three entering the eighth before hitting three straight singles with one out to make it 4-2 and chase rookie Chris Devenski. Luke Gregerson (4-2) took over and was greeted by a soft liner from Trout which dropped for an RBI single to get Los Angeles within one.

A fifth straight single, this one by Pujols, sent home another run to tie it. A wild pitch left Trout at third and he scored on a sacrifice fly by Cron to put Los Angeles on top.

The Angels tacked on five runs in an embarrassing ninth for the Astros. The last run in that inning scored when Jose Altuve made a bad throw for an error to reliever Pat Neshek, who was covering first base, and Neshek tripped over the base and fell face first to the dirt.

George Springer had four hits and an RBI and for the Astros, who had won 11 straight over the Angels before this skid.

Houston led by two in the seventh before an RBI triple by Springer. Yuli Gurriel followed with a run-scoring single to make it 4-1 before Los Angeles rallied once again.

Houston starter Brad Peacock allowed one hit and one run while striking out a season-high seven in five innings.

Jhoulys Chacin allowed four hits and two runs — none earned — in six innings in his third start since making four appearances out of the bullpen. Jose Valdez (2-3) allowed two runs in the seventh for the win.