ANAHEIM — The Angels couldn’t solve Houston Astros left-hander Framber Valdez this time around.
Valdez notched his seventh complete game in the past four seasons, holding the Angels to one run and four hits in the Astros’ 7-1 victory in the opener of the three-game series on Friday night at Angel Stadium.
Valdez (5-3) struck out eight and walked one on 106 pitches.
The Angels lit up Valdez for eight runs in a 9-7 win in Houston on May 20, tying a career worst for the left-hander.
On Friday, however, Valdez looked more like the two-time American League All Star who threw a no-hitter against the Cleveland Guardians last August and was nearly unhittable in two of his three starts against the Angels last season.
Keven Pillar blasted a solo home run to account for the only run for the Angels (24-39), who were trying to win their fourth game in a row to match their season-best winning streak.
Angels starter Griffin Canning (2-6) matched Valdez for six innings before Houston exploded for five runs in the seventh. Canning allowed three runs and seven hits, all singles, in 6⅓ innings, striking out two and walking two.
The Astros (29-35) knocked Canning from the game with back-to-back one-out singles by Trey Cabbage and Jose Altuve in the seventh. Hunter Strickland entered and appeared to get Alex Bregman looking at a called third strike, but instead he walked.
Yordan Alvarez then lined a two-strike pitch into the left-center field gap that fell just out of the reach of a diving Pillar. The ball rolled to the wall, allowing all three base runners to score for a 4-1 lead.
Strickland got the second out on a hard line out to left before Yainer Diaz homered for the fourth straight game to extend the lead to 6-1.
Jose Abreu added a solo shot in the eighth to stretch the lead to 7-1.
Canning gave up three straight two-out singles to Alvarez, Jeremy Pena and Diaz in the first inning to give Houston a 1-0 lead.
Pillar homered on the first pitch of the second inning to tie the score at 1-1.
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Angels third baseman Luis Rengifo helped Canning with a pair of dazzling plays in the middle innings.
He made a backhand sliding stop on a hard grounder by Altuve with one out in the fifth, and then made a diving backhand grab of a line drive off the bat of Victor Carantini to end the sixth.
The Angels faced a Houston lineup that was without right fielder Kyle Tucker for a third consecutive game. Tucker, a two-time All Star and AL RBI leader last season, fouled a ball off his shin on Monday against the St. Louis Cardinals and was placed on the 10-day injured list on Friday with right shin contusion.
Valdez needed just six pitches to get through both the first and sixth innings
After Taylor Ward singled to center to start the fourth, Valdez retired nine in a row before Pillar singled with one out in the seventh.
More to come on this story.