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Pujols, Young Spark Rally As Angels Beat Astros, 12-6

HOUSTON (AP) — Albert Pujols homered early and Eric Young Jr. had a career-high four RBIs, including a three-run shot in a six-run fifth inning and the Los Angeles Angels rallied for a 12-6 win over the Houston Astros on Sunday.

Pujols hit his 601st career home run and his 56th against the Astros in the first inning, and the Angels had a 3-0 lead in the third before Houston got going.

The Astros scored six runs in the third and fourth innings combined, powered by homers from George Springer and Yuli Gurriel, to take a 6-3 lead.

The Angels scored three runs to tie it up in the fifth before Young connected off Michael Feliz (2-1) for his second home run this season to put the Angels up 9-6.

Angels starter Jesse Chavez allowed four hits and six runs in 3 2-3 innings and rookie Keynan Middleton (1-0) pitched a scoreless fifth for his first career win.

Rookie David Paulino, who moved into the rotation this month with three starters on the disabled list, allowed six hits and five runs in four innings.

Kole Calhoun had two hits and three RBIs and Andrelton Simmons added two hits and two RBIs as the Angels won for the third time in four games.

Danny Espinosa hit a bunt single with one out in the third before a single by Cameron Maybin. Maybin stole second base before a two-RBI single by Calhoun pushed the lead to 3-0.

Alex Bregman walked with one out in the third, but Houston trailed by three and didn't have a hit with two outs in the inning when Springer hit his 17th homer in the seats in right field to cut the lead to 3-2.

The Astros tied it at 3-all when Gurriel extended his hitting streak to a career-long 11 games with his seventh home run with two outs in the fourth. A double into the gap by Nori Aoki gave Houston a 4-3 lead later in the inning.

Springer drew a walk to chase Chavez. He was replaced by Blake Parker, who was greeted with an RBI single by Josh Reddick. Jose Altuve followed with a run-scoring single to left field to extend the lead to 6-3.

TRAINER'S ROOM

Astros: RHP Joe Musgrove (shoulder) is expected to come off the disabled list to start for Houston on Monday. Musgrove last pitched on May 26.

AOKI'S MILESTONE

Houston OF Nori Aoki earned automatic entrance into Meikyukai or Golden Players Club, one of two Japanese baseball halls of fame, by collecting two hits on Sunday to give him 2,000 between the majors and Nippon Professional Baseball. After his double in the fourth inning, Aoki's 2,000th hit came on a single to left field to start Houston's sixth inning. Several Astros came out of the dugout to applaud Aoki, including Altuve, who got the ball from the Angels and pretended to throw it into the stands before putting it away for safekeeping. Play was stopped for a minute as the video board showed a graphic congratulating Aoki on reaching the milestone. He tipped his cap and bowed to the crowd several times after receiving a loud ovation.

He matched his season high in hits with a single in the eighth inning to give him 1,284 hits in Japan and 717 in the majors.

UP NEXT

Angels: Alex Meyer (2-3, 4.08 ERA) is scheduled to start for Los Angeles in the opener of a three game series against the Yankees on Monday. Meyer allowed three hits and one run, which was unearned, in six innings of a loss to Detroit in his previous start.

Astros: Barring any setbacks, Musgrove (4-4, 4.89) will start on Monday when Houston opens a three-game series against Yu Darvish and the Texas Rangers. Musgrove had his best performance in his previous start when he allowed four hits in seven scoreless innings in a 2-0 win over Baltimore.

(@Copyright 2017. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may bot be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

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