Luis Garcia made a triumphant return to the rotation, and the Houston Astros earned a split of their four-game wraparound series against the Los Angeles Angels with an 8-3 win on Monday.
Garcia (1-0) made his season debut and first appearance for the Astros in 28 months following Tommy John surgery in May of 2023. After enduring setbacks during his rehab late last season, Garcia posted nine rehab appearances (eight starts) across four levels in the minor leagues.
Aside from a rocky top of the fourth inning, Garcia excelled.
The Angels, who entered the finale fourth in the majors with 190 homers, used the long ball to erase a 2-0 deficit in the fourth. Zach Neto opened the frame with his 25th homer, depositing an 0-2 sweeper into the first row of seats in left field and just inside the left-field foul pole. Two batters later, Mike Trout drilled a single off the scoreboard in left, setting the table for Jo Adell.
Adell launched a 1-0 fastball to over the fence in left for his club-leading 31st homer, a 396-foot blast that plated Trout and spotted the Angels a 3-2 lead. Garcia rebounded quickly and retired Luis Rengifo and Travis d’Arnaud to close the fourth. He then set the Angels down in order in the fifth and sixth.
Garcia surrendered three runs on three hits, all in the fourth, and notched six strikeouts over six innings. He tossed 79 pitches, 52 for strikes, just one shy of his predetermined pitch count.
Houston secured its early 2-0 lead via a Ramon Urias solo home run in the bottom of the second and a Jose Altuve RBI double in the third. The Astros immediately erased their one-run deficit in the fourth when Urias followed a leadoff double from Yainer Diaz with a run-scoring single to center.
Angels starter Yusei Kikuchi (6-10) surrendered an RBI single to Carlos Correa that broke the deadlock in the fifth. Jeremy Pena greeted Angels reliever Chase Silseth with a two-out single in the sixth that plated Cam Smith with an insurance run.
Yordan Alvarez added an RBI single in the eighth before Altuve capped the scoring with a two-run home run off Brock Burke, his 24th of the campaign.
The Astros’ bullpen allowed four hits, but no runs in the final three innings.
