Walbert Ureña grinds through 5 scoreless innings as Angels blow out Astros

ANAHEIM — Walbert Ureña showed that he’s good enough to be good even when he’s not very good.

The Angels’ rookie right-hander walked five and hit a batter in five innings, but he still didn’t give up any runs in the Angels’ 10-1 victory over the Houston Astros on Tuesday night.

Ureña has been the brightest spot in an otherwise bleak season, dropping his ERA to 2.44 after his 10 starts. He has a 1.84 ERA over his last eight starts.

Ureña has been able to overcome his walks with strikeouts and by limiting hits, and there was no better example than Tuesday night.

Ureña struck out seven and gave up just three hits.

“He was competing out there tonight,” Angels manager Kurt Suzuki said. “Obviously he didn’t have his best command, but just his desire to get through that game is what pulled him through. You can’t teach that So, it was really nice to see him have that competitive nature to pull him through when he didn’t have his best command. It was fun to watch.”

Suzuki then clarified the last comment.

“It was fun to watch but it was stressful to watch too,” he said.

That’s because Ureña pitched with constant traffic. Ureña whiffed José Altuve to strand two runners in the first. He struck out Joey Loperfido to leave the bases loaded in the third. In fifth, the bases were loaded again when he got Cam Smith on a pop-up.

“I woke up today and I feel like I was ready to throw eight, nine innings, so I don’t know,” Ureña said. “I warmed up good. I felt really good. I don’t know what changed in the game. I may look it up, but that was a lot of pitches.”

It took a career-high 107 pitches for Ureña to get through the fifth. It was eight more pitches than he had thrown in any of his other major-league starts. Suzuki was likely willing to push him because he wanted him to qualify for the victory and also because the Angels’ bullpen has been shaky.

The Angels’ hitters helped make the game less stressful by scoring seven runs in the first two innings.

In the first inning, the Angels scored two runs without a hit. Right-hander Kai-Wei Teng walked two and hit a batter, and Astros shortstop Jeremy Peña made an error on a routine ground ball.

In the second, the Angels put up five runs in a more traditional manner, spraying five hits around the field.

Mike Trout singled in the second, snapping his 0-for-22 slump.

“It was definitely good to squeak one in there,” Trout said. “It felt like the past couple weeks it’s hitting balls hard just being caught. But that’s how baseball is.”

Wade Meckler then punched a hit into left-center to drive in two. Jo Adell pulled a double down the left field line to knock in two more. An Oswald Peraza grounder pushed the lead to 7-0.

The Angels scored three more runs in the eighth, on RBIs from Trey Mancini, Peraza and Denzer Guzman. Nine of the 11 hitters who came to the plate for the Angels had a hit or an RBI.

The Angels didn’t hit a homer, but they were 6 for 13 with runners in scoring position and they struck out only seven times. They drew six walks.

“That’s a fun way to win too,” Suzuki said. “We love homers. Everybody loves homers, but I think when you watch the quality of at-bats, some walks in there, hitting behind the runners and all the guys running hard 90s down the line, taking the extra base. It was fun.”

It would have been a perfect night for the Angels if not for two players leaving the game with injuries.

Nolan Schanuel was hit in the left calf by a pitch in the first inning. He came out of the game a few innings later. Schanuel has been dealing with problems with his left ankle and calf for most of the season.

Schanuel said it’s “manageable” and “nothing too bad,” but he’ll be evaluated again on Wednesday.

Sebastian Rivero had to leave the game in the middle of an at-bat in the fifth inning. He appeared to hurt his left hand on a swing. He was to undergo a CT scan.

“When you’ve got to come out of the game, for me that’s always a red flag,” Suzuki said, “but once we get the results back tomorrow, then we’ll know more.”

Before that, Rivero had collected two more hits, to go with the five he notched on Sunday. In two games, he raised his batting average from .133 to .250.

The streak ended in the fifth. Logan O’Hoppe took over Rivero’s at-bat on a 1-and-2 count, and he struck out. The strikeout was charged to Rivero.