ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — Ramón Urías hit a two-run homer in the fifth inning, one of four Houston home runs, and the Astros beat the Los Angeles Angels 6-2 on Sunday in the season finale for both teams.
Yainer Diaz, Brice Matthews and Victor Caratini also went deep for the Astros, who failed to make the playoffs for the first time since 2016.
Houston snapped a 1-1 tie with four runs and six hits in the fifth inning, which featured solo shots by Diaz and Matthews and the two-run shot by Urías.
Caratini’s solo homer in the sixth pushed Houston’s lead to 6-1.
The last-place Angels (72-90) finished with nine more wins than they had in 2024 but suffered their 10th straight losing season and extended their playoff drought to 11 years.
Mike Trout closed on a high note, hitting his fifth homer in seven games, a 443-foot shot that tied the score 1-1 in the first.
Trout, a three-time AL MVP, hit just one homer in 36 games from Aug. 8 through Sept. 19. He finished with a .232 average, a career-low .798 OPS, 26 homers and 64 RBIs in 130 games.
Astros starter Lance McCullers Jr. returned from his fourth stint on the injured list to allow one run and two hits, striking out four and walking one, in three innings. Colton Gordon (5-5) threw five hitless relief innings, striking out three and walking one.
Angels starter Sam Aldegheri (0-2) gave up four runs and seven hits in 4 2/3 innings.
Key moment
The Angels bunched four hits for a run that cut the deficit to 6-2 in the ninth, and had the bases loaded with one out, but Astros right-hander Jayden Murray struck out Denzer Guzman swinging and pinch-hitter Taylor Ward looking to end the game.
Key stat
The Angels finished with a franchise-record 1,627 strikeouts, the second-most in major league history behind the 2023 Minnesota Twins (1,654).
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