HOUSTON (AP) — Alex Bregman and Jose Abreu each had two RBIs while Kyle Tucker had three hits as the Houston Astros beat the Angels 5-2 in a game that ousted Houston manager Phil Nevin. .
The win was Dusty Baker’s 2,216th career win, passing Joe McCarthy for eighth on the all-time list.
Ronell Blanco (1-0) was called up pregame by Houston from Triple-A Sugar Land. He allowed seven hits and two runs over 5 1/3 innings to earn the win in his first major league start.
The 29-year-old pitcher previously made 16 relief appearances.
Ryan Pressley allowed one hit in the ninth for his 11th save.
Houston fell behind by one run in the fifth inning and tied it on Yener Diaz’s RBI single. Then with the bases loaded, Alex Bregman hit a two-run RBI hit off Reed Detmers (0-5).
Taylor Ward struck out with a called strike on a low pitch that sent Nevin off the bench in the sixth inning to confront home plate umpire Stu Schurwater. He was quickly fired.
For the Astros, Venezuelan José Altuve went 1–4 with one run, Cuban José Abreu went 1–3 with two RBI, Jordan Alvarez 3–0; Dominican Yener Díaz went 1 for 3 with an RBI and Jeremy Peña went 1 for 4 with an RBI.
For the Angels, Colombian Gio Ursela went 2-4 with one run batted in.
