ANAHEIM, Calif. — Tucker Davidson’s greatest accomplishment on Sunday was that he was still pitching in the seventh inning.
It certainly didn’t seem as if he’d make it that far after he gave up five runs in the second, but Davidson righted himself and pitched efficiently enough to at least save the bullpen in the Angels’ 9-1 loss to the Houston Astros.
Otherwise, it was a disappointing performance from a pitcher trying to make a place for himself in the Angels’ future. The 26-year-old left-hander has a 6.39 ERA in five starts since the Angels picked him up from the Atlanta Braves in the Raisel Iglesias trade a month ago.
Davidson threw his first pitch on Sunday after noon with the temperate at 102 degrees, the sixth hottest game in Angel Stadium history.
The afternoon quickly went from simply too hot to hot and miserable for the Angels when Davidson needed 30 pitches to get three outs in the second.
He issued a leadoff walk to Trey Mancini, and then he hung a curve ball that Preston Tucker hammered 423 feet, beyond the right field fence.
Davidson gave up three more hits in the inning, and he also hit a batter. By the time it was over, the Astros had a 5-0 lead.
Davidson retired 14 of the next 15 hitters, with just a walk interrupting the string. He was through six innings on 83 pitches. In the seventh, gave up a single to Dubon and a two-run homer to José Altuve, and his day was over.
The Angels have been trying to get Davidson to throw changeups. He threw 10 of them on Sunday. The Astros made contact on all four times that they swung. Three of them were outs and one was a foul ball.
While Davidson had a rough day, the Angels hitters did not give him any support.
Astros starter José Urquidy shut the Angels down on four hits over his seven innings.
The Angels had a brief moment when they had a chance to get back in the game, in the third. Andrew Velazquez drew a one-out walk, stole second and went to third on a Matt Duffy infield single. The Angels had runners at the corners for Mike Trout and Luis Rengifo, but each made an out on the first pitch.
Trout hit his 29th homer to put the Angels on the board in the eighth.
