12-26-2019, 08:09 AM
ANAHEIM, Calif. -- Dallas Keuchel came within one out of his second consecutive shutout and the Houston Astros beat the Los Angeles Angels 5-2 Monday night for their first three-game winning streak of the season. Jason Castro and Matt Dominguez drove in runs during a three-run first inning for the Astros, who knocked around Garrett Richards (4-1) for 10 hits in the opener of a 10-game road trip. Keuchel (5-2) followed up his first career shutout with another gem, yielding five hits and striking out eight. He didnt allow a runner past second base until the ninth, when manager Bo Porter pulled him after two-out infield singles by Mike Trout and Albert Pujols. Howie Kendrick followed with a two-run triple off Josh Zeid, who got C.J. Cron on a grounder to end the Angels third loss in 11 games. Dexter Fowler and Chris Carter also drove in runs for the Astros (17-28), who still have the ALs worst record despite six wins in their last eight games. Keuchel baffled the Angels, whose only hits in the first seven innings were back-to-back singles by Pujols and Kendrick in the fourth. Keuchel retired Los Angeles next 10 batters until Grant Green led off the eighth with an infield single. Keuchel improved to 5-1 in his last eight starts. He has yielded four runs, 18 hits and one walk over 25 1-3 innings in three straight dominant outings. Houstons bats also are improving just in time for a three-game series at Angel Stadium, where the Astros have won seven of their last eight. The Astros have at least nine hits in nine straight games for the first time since June 2007. Richards yielded a season-high 10 hits and five runs over seven innings, leaving him with just two wins in his last seven starts. Jose Altuve extended his hitting streak to 11 games with a leadoff double in the first. He advanced to third on Richards major league-leading 10th wild pitch and then scored when Richards comically lobbed a pickoff attempt into left-field foul territory. Castro and Dominguez followed with run-scoring singles. Fowler drove in another run with a two-out single in the second, but cost the Astros a second run when he was thrown out trying to stretch it into a double while George Springer was running home from first. Castro doubled and scored on Carters single in the third. Richards retired the next seven Houston batters and finished strong. NOTES: Fowler drew a walk in his career-best ninth consecutive game, the first Houston player to accomplish that feat since Morgan Ensberg in 2006. ... Angels LHP Hector Santiago, who lost his job in the rotation and hadnt pitched in eight days, retired all six batters he faced in relief. ... Opening-day starters Kole Calhoun and David Freese both had extra-base hits during rehab assignments with Triple-A Salt Lake on Monday night. Both are expected back in the majors soon. OF Josh Hamilton, also closing in on an injury return, took batting practice at Angel Stadium before the game. Yeezy Boost 350 V3 Fake .com) - A pair of programs shooting for their 10th win of the season get together at Madison Square Garden on Saturday, as the NC State Wolfpack tangle with 22nd-ranked West Virginia during the challenge round of the Gotham Classic. Cheap Adidas Shoes China .Stanton suffered fractures in his face and other injuries when he was hit by a pitch Sept. 11. The Marlins are confident hell fully recover and be ready for spring training, and they hope to reach a long-term agreement with him. http://www.brandshoescheaponline.com/who...-sale.html. Buffalos defensive co-ordinator had his second interview with Cleveland owner Jimmy Haslam and CEO Joe Banner on Tuesday night, a person familiar with the Browns plans told The Associated Press. Yeezy Boost 350 v2 Wholesale . Torres tells Spanish daily AS "in football you never know where you will be inside one month. Im going to work hard, thats all you can do with this last part of the season so important. Name Brand Shoes Cheap Online . -- Golden State Warriors reserve centre Ognjen Kuzmic is expected to miss at least six weeks after undergoing surgery on his fractured right hand.UNIONDALE, N.Y. -- The New York Islanders and Pittsburgh Penguins invariably play entertaining games at Nassau Coliseum. Just as predictable is the visiting team emerging with a victory. Rookie defenceman Olli Maatta scored the go-ahead goal early in the second period and Evgeni Malkin added an insurance score in the third as the Penguins rallied from an early deficit and held on for a wild 6-4 win over the Islanders on Thursday night. The Islanders had a 5-on-3 power play for 50 seconds late in the third, but couldnt score against backup Jeff Zatkoff, who made 30 saves for the Eastern Conference-leading Penguins (36-13-2). Pittsburgh improved to 17-5 against Metropolitan Division opponents. Zatkoff (8-2-1) stopped Frans Nielsen point-blank during the power-play and denied John Tavares, second in the league in scoring to Pittsburghs Sidney Crosby, with a shoulder save in the closing seconds. "Jeff hung in there and was strong when he had to be," Penguins coach Dan Bylsma said of his goaltender. "He made that huge late save and showed fortitude -- as we all did -- to stay with it tonight." Brandon Sutter scored an empty-net goal for the Penguins, who trailed 2-0 early and also got goals from Crosby, Chris Kunitz and Kris Letang. Michael Grabner, Brock Nelson, Josh Bailey and Kyle Okposo had goals for the Islanders. Maatta scored his fifth of the season at 5:35 of the middle period to give the Penguins a 3-2 lead when the 19-year-old Finnish defenceman skated through the Islanders defence before sliding a backhand past Kevin Poulin. Letang scored at 17:44 after the Penguins league-best power-play unit kept the puck in the Islanders zone for nearly an entire man advantage. After hitting the post, Letang blasted the puck past Poulin for this 10th goal of the season to give Pittsburgh a two-goal cushion. Bailey pulled the Islanders within a goal at 4-3 at 3:10 of the third when he beat Zatkoff on a breakaway. The goal came after Matt Martin of the Islanders fought Pittsburghs Tanner Glass. But Malkin slapped a perfect cross-ice pass from James Neal past Poulin at 5:59 for this 14th goal. Malkin has points in 24 of 27 games since Nov. 1, with 11 goals and 30 assists during the stretch. "The emotion was there for both teams tonight as it always seems to be when we play the Islanders," Crosby said. "We found a way to stay strong and make key plays at the right times." Okposo received credit for a goal at 10:55 of the third to make it 5-4 after the puck crossed the goal line in a scrum in frront of Zatkoff.dddddddddddd The play was reviewed and the goal awarded, the 21st for Okposo. Sutter scored an empty-net goal for the Penguins at 19:56 to conclude the scoring. The Islanders surprised the Penguins with two quick first-period goals before the visitors answered with a pair of their own in the latter half of the period. Grabner whipped a loose puck past Zatkoff at 1:39. Then, Grabner set up Nelson at 8:21 to make it 2-0. Kunitz answered for the Penguins at 9:32 with a slap shot from the top of left circle past Poulin. Crosby and Maatta assisted on the 25th goal of the season for Kunitz, who will join Crosby on Team Canada at the Winter Games in Sochi next month. Then, Crosby tied it at 11:24 with his 27th goal of the season when he jammed a rebound past Poulin. "They play an aggressive style and they create opportunities," added Crosby, who also had two assists and leads the league with 72 points. "We were able to create some of our own and hold them off when we had to." The Penguins entered 26-2-1 when scoring first and 9-11-1 when they didnt. This time, they found a way to recover and overcome the Islanders (21-25-7). New York has been on a torrid streak that pulled them from a 9-19-7 record after a shootout loss to Tampa Bay on Dec. 17 within five points of a playoff spot before meeting the Penguins. The Islanders lost for just the fourth time in 14 games. "Again, it was about our battle level or the lack of it," Islanders coach Jack Capuano said. "We have to defend harder. You cant give a team with as much firepower as the Penguins all that time and space. We got away from how we have to play for about 10 minutes and it cost us." The three previous Islanders-Penguins games this season were decided by one goal. The teams split two games in Pittsburgh before Crosby capped a Penguins comeback with an overtime goal at the Coliseum on Dec. 3. Pittsburgh is 7-1-1 over its last nine and 15-3-1 in its last 19 contests. The Penguins have also won seven of their last eight regular-season games against the Islanders at Nassau Coliseum. The Penguins defeated the Islanders in a six-game first-round playoff series last May. NOTES: Crosby has 25 goals and 58 assists in 45 regular-season games against the Islanders, including 11 goals and 24 assists in 21 games at Nassau Coliseum. ... The Penguins are 11-1 in their last 12 division games. The only loss was a 2-1 setback against the Devils in Newark on Dec. 31. The Penguins are 13-4-2 in their last 19 games at Nassau Coliseum. ... The Islanders continued to be without D Travis Hamonic (upper body). ' ' '