HOUSTON — The last time the Angels won their first two games of a season, Mike Trout was a sophomore in high school.

Thanks to another Trout homer – along with homers from Josh Lowe and Zach Neto – the Angels reached that “milestone” on Friday night, beating the Houston Astros for the second game in a row, 6-2.

“The last two games have been great team wins from everybody,” Trout said. “Everybody’s contributing. Pitching staff’s making pitches. Timely hitting.”

A 2-0 record doesn’t seem like much, but it’s been elusive for the Angels lately. They had only won their opener once in the previous 12 seasons before Thursday’s victory, and the last time they won their first two games was 2007.

The 2007 Angels won 94 games and the American League West title.

No one is going to crown them with anything for winning two games in the first series of the year, but Trout’s start has nonetheless provided some hope that maybe this year will be the end of their streak of 10 consecutive losing seasons.

Besides his line drive over the left field fence in the fifth inning, Trout reached on a bloop single and a ground ball that got through the infield. He also walked.

“Mike Trout looks really good right now,” Astros manager Joe Espada said. “Obviously we know how big of a threat he is and, right now, it has just been tough for us to get him out.”

Trout is 4 for 6 with two homers and four walks in his first 10 plate appearances of the season.

“Just watching him at the plate, he’s comfortable, confident,” Angels manager Kurt Suzuki said. “He’s in a good place right now. He really is just taking it day by day, really, swing by swing. He’s up there just kind of having fun with that kind of mentality. When he does that, he’s dangerous, as you guys saw the last two nights. It’s been fun to watch. Really happy for him.”

Like Trout, Lowe is trying to rediscover himself after a couple of years of injuries with the Tampa Bay Rays.

He put the Angels ahead for good in the second inning, when he lofted a three-run homer into the Crawford Boxes. Lowe also pulled a double down the right field line in the fourth inning.

Lowe missed much of spring training because of oblique tightness on his left side. Oblique issues on the other side derailed his last two seasons after his 2023 breakout. This spring he also had to deal with the passing of his mother, who had been battling cancer.

Having a big game like this meant a lot to Lowe.

“It felt awesome, plain and simple,” Lowe said. “I did what I could today to help the team win. I’ve been through some things here in the last month that haven’t been necessarily fun, between injury and my mom passing. But I just go out each day like it’s my last and play as hard as I can and it was a good day today.”

Trout’s homer put the Angels ahead 5-1. Despite the cushion, starter Yusei Kikuchi couldn’t get through five innings to qualify for the victory.

Kikuchi gave up two runs in 4⅓ innings, throwing 86 pitches.

One of Kikuchi’s problems last season was that he was inefficient with his pitches even when he was pitching well, which prevented him from getting deep in games.

This time he only walked one. He threw 62% of his pitches for strikes, but he wasn’t fooling the Astros. They hit balls hard all night. The Angels’ defense had to make a few spectacular plays to keep them from doing more damage.

In the second inning alone, Angels infielders Yoán Moncada, Neto and Oswald Peraza all robbed the Astros of hits.

Finally, after Yordan Alvarez blasted a homer and José Altuve singled in the fifth, Suzuki turned the game over to the bullpen for the final 14 outs.

Chase Silseth picked up the final two outs in the fifth. Ryan Zeferjahn then retired all six hitters he faced in the sixth and seventh, including the top of the Houston order. Sam Bachman struck out three and walked two in a scoreless eighth.

Neto’s first homer of the season gave the Angels some insurance in the top of the ninth, and then Jordan Romano closed it out.

Angels relievers have not allowed a run in 7⅔ innings in the first two games.

“They’ve been awesome,” Suzuki said. “The last two days they’ve been phenomenal coming in, attacking. Some good stuff from Bach tonight. Had a couple walks, but attacking. Close pitches. Zef coming in, two efficient innings was phenomenal and Silly again coming in getting us out of that jam. Really great team overall win.”