RECAP: Featherston's single lifts Angels over Astros 2-1 in 13 innings (VIDEO)
Taylor Featherston poked an RBI single over first base with two outs in the 13th inning to give the Los Angeles Angels a 2-1 victory over the Houston Astros on Wednesday.
Surprise starter Andrew Heaney pitched well in his Angels debut, locking horns with Lance McCullers in a matchup of touted young arms selected in the first round of the 2012 draft.
Los Angeles took two of three in the series to climb within 4 1/2 games of the AL West leaders.
Erick Aybar greeted Joe Thatcher (1-2) with a leadoff single, advanced on Daniel Robertson's sacrifice and went to third on Efren Navarro's groundout. Chad Qualls walked Chris Iannetta before Featherston came through.
Jose Alvarez (2-1) pitched 1 2-3 scoreless innings for the win.
Joe Smith, working his second inning of relief for the Angels, did not retire any of the three batters he faced in the ninth. Preston Tucker led off with a single, but pinch-runner George Springer was picked off before the next pitch. Evan Gattis tried to stretch a single to left field into a double and was thrown out by Robertson.
Another Astros pinch-runner was cut down in the 10th when Marwin Gonzalez was thrown out trying to steal second by Iannetta after Huston Street's leadoff walk to Luis Valbuena.
Robertson entered in the eighth as a pinch-hitter for Matt Joyce and singled with one out against Tony Sipp. Robertson made it to third on Iannetta's two-out single, but Pat Neshek came in and struck out pinch-hitter David Freese.
Heaney allowed a run and four hits over six innings with five strikeouts and an intentional walk in his sixth major league start. The 24-year-old lefty was recalled from Triple-A Salt Lake after struggling right-hander Matt Shoemaker was pushed back two days in the rotation to get some extra work in.
Heaney was 0-3 with a 6.93 ERA in five starts last season with Miami. The Angels acquired him in December from the Dodgers for second baseman Howie Kendrick.
McCullers also allowed a run and four hits through six innings, striking out six and walking three in his eighth big league start. He lowered his ERA to 2.33.
McCullers had at least one runner on base in every inning. Albert Pujols drew a leadoff walk in the fourth and scored on Iannetta's bases-loaded sacrifice fly.
The Astros had scored first in eight consecutive games.
Houston tied it in the sixth when Jose Altuve walked with one out, stole his AL-leading 18th base and scored on rookie Carlos Correa's double to left field over Joyce's head.
ON TO THE NEXT LEVEL
Astros RHP Mark Appel, the top pick in the 2013 draft, was promoted from Double-A Corpus Christi to Triple-A Fresno after going 5-1 with a 4.26 ERA.
UP NEXT
Astros: LHP Dallas Keuchel (8-3) pitches Thursday night in the opener of a four-game home series against the New York Yankees. Keuchel is 3-3 with a 2.90 ERA over his last seven starts after going 6-0 with a 1.67 ERA in his first nine.
Angels: Shoemaker is scheduled to start on six days' rest Friday night in the opener of a three-game set at home against Seattle. He was given extra time to work on fastball command. Shoemaker has a 5.20 ERA in 13 starts after setting a franchise rookie record last season with 16 wins. In five career starts against the Mariners, he is 3-1 with a 2.87 ERA.
