"The Angels are an embarrassment to baseball" "Angels fans are in pain today" - MLB fans mock Angels for being dominated by Houston Astros in a 3-game series

The Houston Astros slammed the door shut on the Los Angeles Angels in their contest today. While it seemed like there was a glimmer of hope that the Angels would avoid a sweep, the Astros denied them that chance.

The Astros won the game 4-2 courtesy of a walk-off blast from rookie Jeremy Peña. This was the only other walk-off win by the Astros this year. The other being the April 24 win against Toronto, wherein Peña also put in the finishing touches.

The Angels were swept by Houston in their three-game affair. They are now fourth in the American League West with a 37-44 record. The Texas Rangers have edged them in the standings with a 37-40 card.

The Angels drew first blood when Luis Rengifo scored with a blast to right center field in the top of the second inning. It was followed up by Shohei Ohtani's RBI single in the following inning. This gave the Angels a 2-0 advantage.

Jeremy Peña pulled one back for the Houston Astros with a solo dinger in the fourth. Jose Altuve then drove in Chas McCormick in the fifth inning to tie the game.

Reliever Ryan Tepera was called upon to hold the Astros scoreless to extend the game. That wouldn't happen, however, as Jose Altuve singled. Afterwards, Jeremy Peña hit his walk-off bomb.

The Angels are now 15.5 games behind the top spot in the American League West and are seven games behind the wildcard spot.

The MLB sphere make fun of the Angels' loss to the Houston Astros

The Houston Astros utterly dominated the Angels. They set a franchise record with 20 strikeouts in a game in their contest against the Angels. Framber Valdez fanned 13 Angels batters on his way to a victory.

Jeremy Peña carried the load on offense for Houston with his two home runs and three RBIs performance. Jose Altuve went 3-for-5 with an RBI and a run scored.

The Angels, meanwhile, maintained the recurring theme of their bullpen, giving up possible victories.

Their bullpen has been abyssmal. The collective has given up 276 hits and 46 home runs to opposition squads this year.

The firing of Joe Maddon didn't change things up in Anaheim. But if they want Ohtani to extend his contract and give him a fruitful career, they need to quickly turn things around.

About the author

Daniel Santiago is a journalist who has been reporting on baseball at Sportskeeda since 2022. He was drawn towards the sport after the underlying statistics and the analysis surrounding it grabbed his attention.

Daniel particularly enjoys furnishing reports about historic events in baseball and analyzing the game through a statistic-based outlook, based on Fangraphs and Baseball-Reference. This is in line with how he enjoyed watching baseball as a pastime. As a writer, he is very particular about cross-checking from reputable sources and doing his due diligence.

He became a lifelong Hideki Matsui fan after his exploits in the 2009 World Series for the New York Yankees. Among the current generation, Daniel's favorites include Shohei Ohtani and Jung Hoo Lee. Daniel is a huge follower of Asian baseball and both Ohtani and Lee have been in the top echelon of their respective leagues during their time with the NPB and KBO.

His favorite moment as a baseball fan was the final at-bat of the 2023 World Baseball Classic between Shohei Ohtani and Mike Trout. He believes there aren't many words to fittingly describe the intensity of the moment.

As an avid sports fan, Daniel watches other sports and Esports when not writing about baseball.

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"The Angels are an embarrassment to baseball", "Angels fans are in pain today" - MLB fans mock Angels for being dominated by Houston Astros in a 3-game series

The MLB sphere make fun of the Angels' loss to the Houston Astros