Astros beat Angels 5-2 as Blanco gets first MLB win

HOUSTON — Alex Bregman and José Abreu had two RBIs each and Kyle Tucker added three hits to lead the Houston Astros to a 5-2 win over Los Angeles on Thursday night in a game during which Angels manager Phil Nevin was ejected.

The victory was the 2,126th of manager Dusty Baker’s career, moving him past Joe McCarthy into sole possession of eighth place on baseball’s all-time list. Houston’s Ronel Blanco (1-0), who was recalled from Triple-A Sugar Land before the game, allowed seven hits and two runs in 5 1/3 innings for the win in his first major league start. The 29-year-old has made 16 career relief appearances.

“He was good after he settled down,” Baker said. “He started out a little shaky and ... then he settled down and he got out of a couple of tough jams with some tough hitters.”

Ryan Pressly allowed one hit in a scoreless ninth for his 11th save.

Houston trailed by 1 in the fifth when Corey Julks doubled and moved to third on a wild pitch by Reid Detmers (0-5). The Astros tied it on a one-out single by Yainer Diaz. Jose Altuve singled and Detmers walked Yordan Alvarez with two outs to load the bases.

Bregman then smoked a single on a grounder to left field to put Houston up 4-2. He has hit safely in a season-high eight games and is hitting .406 with eight RBIs in that span.

“Some hits are falling,” he said. “Just continue to work every, single day and, as Dusty says, think lucky.”

The Angels had a shot to close the gap in the sixth when they loaded the bases with one out. But Taylor Ward was called out on a low strike, bringing Nevin out of the dugout and face to face with home plate umpire Stu Scheurwater. He was quickly ejected, but still yelled at him for a few seconds before ripping off his own cap and screaming at him some more.

Second base umpire Mark Wegner came to the plate and got between the men, lightly pushing Nevin away from Scheurwater.