Albert Pujols 31st HR, & Ricky Nolasco help Angels break Astros spell.

Albert Pujols keeps inching closer to the 600 home run mark as he hit #591 of his career against the Houston Astros to back a stellar effort by Ricky Nolasco as the Angels break an 11-game losing streak to Houston.

Albert Pujols hit his 30th homer over the weekend against Toronto and now by virtue of his first inning moon shot against the Houston Astros he has 31 on the season. More importantly the blast gave Ricky Nolasco all the support he would need on Thursday night as the right-hander held the Astros scoreless for seven inning on only five hits while striking out five.

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Nolasco won for the third time since being traded on July 31st to the Angels from the Minnesota Twins. After a rough start to his Angels career in his first two outings, Nolasco has found his groove.  In his last eight starts Nolasco has a 2.63 ERA in 54.2 innings with a 0.98 WHIP and is 3-5 during that span.

The Angels who won their first game of the season series against the Astros when Albert Pujols hit his 10th homer back May 27th in a 7-2 win.   Since then the Angels have found every way to lose against the Astros, but strong pitching and timely hitting got the Angels the win Thursday night.

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Nolasco looked in control from the beginning pitching his second straight shutout performance and he now has a modest 13 scoreless innings streak. Nolasco has fared much better than Hector Santiago has for his new team.

Back to Pujols,  he is closing in on 600 homers and he has owned the Astros over his career.  So far this season Pujols is batting ..265 with  31 HR’s and 118 RBI’s in one of his best years in an Angels’ uniform.

As Pujols continues to move up the ladder he has also helped the Angels win a lot of games and Thursday was another one.  The Angels will play the Astros seven more times including tomorrow night when rookie Alex Meyer looks to continue his audition for a rotation spot in 2017.

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The Angels are trying to finish strong and play the role of spoiler in the playoff race. When you get a pitching performance like Nolasco it really helps and then JC Ramirez came out of the bullpen throwing fire and then Andrew Bailey pitched a perfect 9th for his fifth save in as many chances for the Angels.

The Angels are playing their third

straight series against a playoff contender and are 4-4 during that stretch. Hopefully they will keep it going the rest of the season.

Keep up the great work boys!!!