ANAHEIM, Calif. – A day after the Houston Astros were officially eliminated from playoff contention, a lineup heavy on supporting cast salvaged their season finale. The Astros hit four home runs and received five strong relief innings from rookie Colton Gordon to end their season with a 6-2 win over the Los Angeles Angels at Angel Stadium.

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Houston finished with an 87-75 record, one fewer win than it totaled last season and its fewest in a full-length campaign since 2016, the last year in which it did not make the playoffs. The Astros saw their streak of eight consecutive playoff appearances officially end on Saturday, when they were eliminated from the AL wild-card race.

“I’m just glad that the guys came out today and we played well,” manager Joe Espada said. “The offseason begins now. We’ve got work to do. We’re going to roll up our sleeves and we’re going to go to work.”

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Lance McCullers Jr. started for the Astros and allowed one run over his three innings. Gordon followed him and threw five scoreless innings without allowing a hit. It proved a positive end to his rookie year for Gordon, who posted a 5.34 ERA in 86 innings, tied for third-most by an Astros pitcher in 2025.

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Trailing 6-1 into the ninth, the Angels brought the potential tying run to the plate against Jayden Murray, another rookie. With the bases loaded, Murray struck out Dezner Guzman and Taylor Ward to finish the game and send the Astros into the offseason, their earliest entrance in nine years.

Lance McCullers Jr.’s return

Activated from the injured list Saturday, McCullers drew the start for Game 162 at the end of a difficult season. The right-hander returned from a 2 ½-year injury absence in May and posted a 6.51 ERA in 55⅓ innings around three other times on the injured list.

McCullers went three innings, allowing one run and two hits. He walked one batter and struck out four. Mike Trout blasted a full-count fastball 443 feet for a solo home run in the first inning. McCullers struck out Luis Rengifo to strand the bases loaded in the second and worked a clean third.

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“I think today was a really good day for him,” Espada said. “I know he’s been through a lot and I think today he showed that when he’s in the zone, he throws those quality strikes, he’s someone that can take you deep in the game and can get some quality outs and quality innings for you.”

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Questions about McCullers’ role next season, the last on his five-year, $85 million extension, linger after he was moved to the bullpen in August. Hunter Brown and Cristian Javier are the lone projected sureties for the 2026 rotation right now, though, perhaps leaving McCullers an opportunity.

“It’s my first healthy offseason since 2020, which is big for me just as an individual,” McCullers said. “I think having a full long offseason will give me the ability to address some stuff.

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“Overall, my stuff is there. I would like to gain a little bit of velo. That should hopefully come back. It takes guys some time after major surgeries and I’ve had a couple. So just continue to put the work in and understand that it’s still there. Just have to find a way to be a little bit more consistent.”

Bombs away

Astros hitters struck four home runs in each of their final two games at Angel Stadium. They hit four in a two-inning span Sunday to forge a decisive lead.

Three came in the fifth inning. Yainer Diaz sent a slider from Samuel Aldegheri an estimated 411 feet for his 20th home run, reaching that mark for the second time in three seasons. Ramón Urías blasted a high changeup for a two-run homer that chased Aldegheri from the game.

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Connor Brogdon replaced him. Brice Matthews hit the first pitch Brogdon threw, a cutter, 420 feet to left-center to give Houston a 5-1 lead. Victor Caratini padded it by driving a Brogdon four-seamer 417 feet to center field in the sixth.

The Astros finished the season with 182 home runs. They entered Sunday ranked 17th in the majors in that category. Christian Walker led the club with 27 home runs. It marked the first full-length season since 2015 that the Astros did not have a player reach 30 home runs.

Roster notes

Shortstop Jeremy Peña was placed on the injured list Sunday morning due to the left oblique strain that sidelined him for the final seven games of the season. Outfielder Jacob Melton, who started the game in center field, was recalled from Triple-A Sugar Land in a corresponding move.

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Peña, who injured his oblique last Saturday trying to avoid a tag on the basepaths, had a difficult end to his breakout season. The shortstop posted a .304/.363/.477 slash line and a team-high 132 OPS-plus in 125 games, also missing about a month after a pitch fractured his rib.

Espada said that if the Astros had made the playoffs, Peña “was in a really good spot to come back and play” during the wild-card round. “But this is just more, let’s take time, heal and get ready for ’26.”

Peña, Jose Altuve, Isaac Paredes, Carlos Correa and Walker rested on Sunday. Rookies Zach Cole, Cam Smith, Matthews and Melton all drew starts in Game 162. The Astros finished tied for the AL’s sixth-best record with the Tigers, but Detroit owned the tiebreaker due to head-to-head record against them.

“Any way you cut it, we didn’t accomplish what we set out to do in spring, which is win a World Series,” McCullers said. “I don’t know how many teams truly leave spring training with that goal. Obviously, it was ours, and we fell way short of it because we didn’t get in the dance. But we have a great team with a lot of talent.

“At the end of the day, we just have to be a little bit better throughout the season and retool.”