Littell pitches well as follower versus Yanks

Trammell homered in the fourth for the lone run off Walbert Ureña. The Astros were then pretty quiet until the ninth, which opened with Trammell getting hit by a pitch. Despite collecting just one hit, the Astros went on to score four times in the frame, thanks in part to two errors and an a second HBP. Trammell’s homer was his fifth. He’s batting .242/.337/.414 in 143 plate appearances as he fights for time in Houston’s outfield.

Again, there’s just no middle ground with Imai. Maybe there will be next year as he settles into MLB, but there’s certainly no trusting him right now. This is the third time in 15 starts that he’s failed to make it through the first. He’s completed five innings just seven times, though he is 6-1 with a 1.77 ERA when that happens. He’s due to face the Rangers next.

Hader walked two after the Astros’ unexpected ninth-inning comeback, but he was able to finish things off afterwards. He’s allowed just 10 hits while posting a 1.29 ERA in 21 innings this season.

Ureña left with a 4-1 lead after striking out five and allowing just two hits, but that wasn’t sufficient tonight. That he’s pitching for such a lousy team — and one that will probably get worse before the trade deadline — is one of the things that makes it tough to bet on the 22-year-old Ureña for the short term. He’s going to be a force to be reckoned with going forward, but there’s just so little help to be had in Anaheim. He’ll likely face the Brewers on Sunday.

The Angels again used Ryan Zeferjahn in the eighth tonight, and he allowed one run to narrow the Angels’ lead to 4-2. José Fermin got the ball to start the ninth, but he retired just one of four batters, thanks to a HBP and a Vaughn Grissom error. Bachman took over afterwards and walked two, hit a batter and committed an error on a roller hit right to him. Two ugly flops in two days should take Bachman out of the ninth-inning mix for a spell and perhaps restore Kirby Yates to late-game duty. Zeferjahn remains the Angels’ most interesting reliever, but as long as Kurt Suzuki keeps managing like this, it’s hard to justify playing anyone in the bunch.

How bad would Altuve have to be for the Astros to bench their future Hall of Famer/homegrown hero? We’re surely not at that point yet, but Altuve is probably the worst defensive second baseman in the league and he’s hitting a modest .228/.293/.389. There’s still hope that he’ll turn it around some offensively, but even so, he needs to be clearly above average there in order to avoid being a liability overall.

It was a banner game for Grissom through eight, but he committed a big error at second base in the Astros’ four-run ninth and then grounded out to end the game with the tying run on base. Fortunately, it won’t be the difference in whether the Angels stay home in October or not. Grissom has looked like a legitimate solution at second base while hitting .259/.325/.411 this year. He has 77 hard-hit balls and just 39 strikeouts in 253 plate appearances.

Rafaela thought he just missed on the slam, spiking his bat on the fly to left. Colby Thomas really should have made the catch, but he didn’t time the play very well and had the ball go off his glove as he jumped at the wall. Rafaela had hit .355 in 32 career plate appearances with the bases loaded, but this was his first slam, and it put the Red Sox in position to claim a 10th straight road victory. Rafaela, who was dropped to fifth in Boston’s lineup with new arrival Curtis Mead hitting second tonight, is batting .278/.320/.442 in 414 plate appearances.

Tolle gave up homers to Tyler Soderstrom and Jonah Heim, but thanks to Ceddanne Rafaela’s slam in the sixth, he won for the sixth time this season to even up his record. He has a 3.32 ERA and a 103/27 K/BB through 95 innings. He’s looking at a showdown with the Dodgers next time out on Saturday.

Chapman allowed a single and had another batter reach on an error, but he fanned the other three guys he faced. With nine saves and one win in 10 appearances. he’ll be on the short list of AL relievers of the month for July.