Batting behind Yordan Alvarez brings responsibility. Opponents’ caution with the Houston Astros‘ slugger can create opportunities – or place an onus on – the hitter slotted after him. So far this season, that task has fallen to Isaac Paredes.
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“I think it’s something cool to be hitting behind (Alvarez),” Paredes said through an interpreter Saturday. “We all know the type of hitter that Yordan is, so I feel like I have to double prepare to be able to protect him out there. But I think it’s something that motivates me to be a better hitter.”
At a critical moment Sunday, then, the Los Angeles Angels tested that mettle. In a tied game in the eighth inning, with a runner on third base and two out, Alvarez strode to the plate. Left-hander Drew Pomeranz stood on the mound. Angels manager Kurt Suzuki held up four fingers.
Alvarez took first base. Paredes arrived to face Pomeranz. After a 2-2 fastball was ruled just off the lower outside corner, Paredes punched another off the plate into center field. It descended in front of a diving Jo Adell for a go-ahead two-run double.
Paredes’ swing proved decisive in a back-and-forth affair. Jose Altuve followed with a double to provide insurance. The Astros secured a split of their season-opening series against the Angels with a 9-7 win at Daikin Park, claiming the final two games behind their offensive production.
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Houston totaled just seven hits in the finale, but five occurred with a runner in scoring position. That was enough to hold off an Angels club whose stubborn lineup made Houston’s pitching work all series. Astros pitchers issued 28 walks over the four games.
Fill-in closer Bryan Abreu issued two in the ninth inning. Abreu had thrown 26 pitches Saturday night, and his typically mid-to-high 90s mph fastball averaged just 93.2 mph to his three hitters Sunday. Astros manager Joe Espada removed him after his second walk brought the tying run to the plate.
Bryan King entered for left-handed Nolan Schanuel, who pulled a grounder to the right side. It deflected off the glove of diving first baseman Christian Walker for a run-scoring single. King froze Jorge Soler with a third-strike fastball, then did the same to Yoán Moncada, ending an eight-pitch at-bat and the game.
Houston staked Tatsuya Imai to a four-run lead after two innings in his MLB debut. The right-hander from Japan could not preserve it. Imai surrendered four runs in the third and did not make it out of the frame. The Angels harassed Astros starters over the four-game series, scoring 15 runs in the 17 ⅔ innings they combined to throw and chasing all but one by the fifth inning.
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Imai’s outing was the shortest of those four, pressing Houston’s bullpen into extended action. Zach Neto struck a two-run home run against Roddery Muñoz in the fourth inning, giving the Angels a 6-4 lead. Walker erased it with a two-out, two-run double against Chase Silseth in the fifth, two batters after the Angels had turned to their bullpen.
ASTROS 9, ANGELS 7
Los Angeles
AB
R
H
BI
BB
SO
Avg.
Neto ss
2
2
1
2
3
0
.200
Trout dh
4
1
1
0
1
2
.462
Schanuel 1b
3
1
1
1
2
0
.313
2-Teodosio pr
0
0
0
0
0
0
.000
Soler rf
5
1
1
3
0
3
.188
Moncada 3b
4
0
0
0
1
1
.071
Adell cf
4
0
2
1
0
0
.313
Lowe lf
4
0
0
0
0
4
.133
d’Arnaud c
3
1
1
0
0
2
.333
a-Candelario ph
1
0
0
0
0
0
.000
O’Hoppe c
0
0
0
0
0
0
.273
Frazier 2b
3
1
0
0
1
1
.000
Houston
AB
R
H
BI
BB
SO
Avg.
Peña ss
5
0
0
0
0
2
.200
Alvarez lf
2
1
1
1
3
0
.308
Meyers cf
0
0
0
0
0
0
.250
Paredes 2b
5
1
2
2
0
1
.188
1-Allen pr-2b
0
1
0
0
0
0
.000
Altuve dh
3
1
1
1
2
1
.231
Correa 3b
4
0
0
0
1
0
.250
Loperfido cf-lf
5
1
1
0
0
2
.333
Walker 1b
3
1
1
2
1
0
.308
Smith rf
2
2
0
0
1
0
.077
Vázquez c
2
1
1
2
1
0
.500
Los Angeles
004
200
001_7
7
1
Houston
040
020
03x_9
7
0
a-flied out for d’Arnaud in the 8th.
1-ran for Paredes in the 8th. 2-ran for Schanuel in the 9th.
E_Moncada (2). LOB_Los Angeles 7, Houston 9. 2B_Soler (1), d’Arnaud (1), Loperfido (2), Paredes 2 (3), Walker (3), Altuve (1). HR_Neto (2), off Muñoz. RBIs_Soler 3 (5), Adell (1), Neto 2 (3), Schanuel (5), Vázquez 2 (2), Alvarez (2), Walker 2 (3), Paredes 2 (4), Altuve (1). SB_Alvarez (1). S_Vázquez.
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Runners left in scoring position_Los Angeles 3 (d’Arnaud, Moncada 2); Houston 6 (Altuve 2, Correa 2, Loperfido, Smith). RISP_Los Angeles 5 for 14; Houston 5 for 16.
Runners moved up_Moncada, Peña. GIDP_Trout.
DP_Houston 1 (Correa, Paredes, Walker).
Los Angeles
IP
H
R
ER
BB
SO
NP
ERA
Kochanowicz
4
4
6
5
5
3
94
11.25
Silseth
1
1
0
0
0
1
14
0.00
Bachman
2
0
0
0
2
2
34
0.00
Pomeranz, L, 0-1
1
2
3
3
2
0
17
13.50
Houston
IP
H
R
ER
BB
SO
NP
ERA
Imai
2
2-3
3
4
4
4
4
74
13.50
Muñoz
2
3
2
2
1
4
47
6.75
Roa
1-3
0
0
0
0
1
3
6.75
Okert
1
0
0
0
1
0
15
0.00
Blubaugh, W, 1-1
2
0
0
0
0
2
23
2.08
Abreu, H, 1
1-3
0
1
1
2
0
14
27.00
King, S, 1-1
2-3
1
0
0
0
2
18
3.38
Inherited runners-scored_Silseth 2-2, Muñoz 1-0, Roa 2-0, King 2-1. IBB_off Pomeranz (Alvarez), off Pomeranz (Correa). HBP_Pomeranz (Smith). WP_Kochanowicz, Muñoz, Abreu.
Umpires_Home, Brennan Miller; First, Chris Conroy; Second, John Tumpane; Third, Ben May.
T_3:15. A_30,848 (41,000).
Tatsuya Imai’s short debut
After the enthusiasm over his signing and optimism about his acclimation in spring training, Imai’s debut was decidedly underwhelming. He struggled with command, ceded a four-run lead handed to him in the second inning and did not escape the third.
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In Japan, Imai had battled control issues early in his career and improved in recent seasons. He recorded just one walk in six Grapefruit League innings this spring. Sunday, he walked two of his first three batters faced. In between, he recorded his first MLB strikeout, getting Mike Trout looking on a fastball.
Imai threw 25 pitches in his first inning. The Angels swung at three of them. They were more aggressive after that but still totaled 20 swings on 74 pitches. Imai generated seven whiffs on 20 swings and struck out four of his first eight batters faced. But his outing unraveled in the third inning.
Ahead 1-2 on Neto, Imai issued a one-out walk. He built an 0-2 count to Trout, but Trout worked it full and singled. Imai missed badly to his arm-side multiple times in a walk to Schanuel, loading the bases and prompting a mound visit.
Soler had struck out looking at five sliders in his first at-bat. Imai stayed with the pitch. Soler lined the eighth straight slider he saw into the left-field corner for a bases-clearing double. With two outs, Adell also lined a slider to left for an RBI single, bringing Espada from the dugout.
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Imai threw 74 pitches, 38 balls and 36 strikes. He threw 41% of his pitches in-zone, per Baseball Savant. His fastball averaged 95.6 mph and reached 97.6. But he struggled to command it or his slider with any regularity. He threw 33 pitches in the third inning before Espada removed him.
Houston Astros starting pitcher Tatsuya Imai (45) walks off the mound as he is taken from the game during the third inning of a Major League Baseball game against the Los Angeles Angels at Daikin Park in Houston, Sunday, March 29, 2026. (Brett Coomer/Houston Chronicle)
Christian Vázquez appears
Backup catcher Christian Vázquez drew his first start of the season receiving Imai. The two hardly worked together in spring training, as Vázquez did not join Houston’s camp until the final week after signing a minor-league deal in early March and playing in the World Baseball Classic. Espada said he gave Vázquez a four-day heads-up that he would start Sunday’s game.
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“There’s something that’s going to come with controlling Imai’s emotions and Christian has been on that side before,” Espada said pregame. “Not only pitch-calling but also making sure that Imai stays within himself and gives us an opportunity to win the game, which that’s just the bottom line.”
Vázquez is not expected to offer much offensive impact. He hit .189 with a 52 OPS-plus in 65 games with the Twins last year, driving in 14 runs in 214 plate appearances. Sunday, though, he collected two RBIs in his first at-bat of the season, keying a four-run second inning.
A double by Joey Loperfido and two walks by Angels starter Jack Kochanowicz loaded the bases with one out. Vázquez flicked a 96 mph fastball to right field for a single and flipped his bat on his way to first base. Alvarez bounced a two-out single into right field to drive in another run. Moncada’s errant throw on Paredes’ slow chopper allowed in a fourth.
In long relief
Of the Astros’ four starting pitchers in their opening series against the Angels, just one – Mike Burrows – completed five innings. Hunter Brown lasted 4 ⅔ innings on opening day, exiting after 102 pitches. The Angels scored five runs against Burrows in his 5 ⅔ innings Friday. Cristian Javier lasted 4 ⅔ frames Saturday, allowing six runs.
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Houston’s starters combined to allow 20 hits and 14 walks over 17 2/3 innings in the series. Espada gave the Angels’ lineup credit prior to Sunday’s game, saying: “There hasn’t been an easy out.”
Carrying multiple long relievers on the opening day roster was meant to give the Astros coverage behind their five-man rotation. They were forced to lean on those arms in their first series, probably more than preferred. AJ Blubaugh threw 41 pitches behind Brown in the opener. Ryan Weiss was used for an inning in a three-run deficit Friday. Kai-Wei Teng threw 39 pitches in a key outing in Saturday’s comeback win.
Sunday, Houston leaned on Muñoz, using him for 47 pitches after Imai’s exit. Muñoz totaled six outs with that pitch count. The right-hander is a converted starter, so the workload was not entirely unfamiliar. But his relative inefficiency kept him from getting through the fifth. Steven Okert instated some stability with a scoreless sixth. AJ Blubaugh followed with two scoreless innings, retiring all six batters he faced.
Walk this way
Astros pitchers issued 28 walks in the four-game series, setting a franchise record for most walks in the first four games of a season.
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The 1976 Astros held the previous record with 26 walks in their first four games that season. No other team in franchise history has issued more than 21 walks in its first four games, per Baseball Reference.
Houston walked 20 batters in this series’ first three games. No other major-league team entered Sunday with more than 16 walks allowed.
This article originally published at Houston Astros outlast Los Angeles Angels once again to spilt season-opening series.