McCullers Jr. out-duels Ohtani in gem against Angels

Photo courtesy of Thomas Shea/USA TODAY Sports

Going into Tuesday's game, all eyes were focused on full-time pitcher and hitter Shohei Ohtani. And while he was good, the guy pitching in white, orange and navy was even better.

Lance McCullers Jr. had what was probably his best outing of the season on Tuesday night, shutting down the Angels in a 5-1 win at Minute Maid Park.

It was a classic pitchers' duel for most of the contest. Both teams were held scoreless through the first three innings, with McCullers Jr. working his off-speed pitches for swings and misses and Shohei Ohtani utilizing his wipeout splitter to perfection. McCullers Jr. and Ohtani both racked three swinging K's in the first three innings.

It wasn't until the fifth inning that the deadlock was finally broken -- Kyle Tucker managed to turn a fastball the other way for an opposite-field home run into the Crawford Boxes.

Meanwhile, McCullers Jr. would continue his sensational performance in the middle innings. McCullers faced only one batter over the minimum during that stretch, striking out the side -- all swinging -- in the sixth inning.

McCullers Jr.'s one mistake came in the eighth inning, on a Taylor Ward home run. Outside of that, he was nearly flawless; his final line was 8.0 IP, three hits, two walks, one earned run, and nine strikeouts.

"I thought it was fun,” McCullers commented postgame. "I know people apparently don’t like pitchers’ duels, but I thought tonight was a pretty fun game... I feel like if you're a fan at home or at the stadium watching today, you feel pretty happy about what you watched."

Despite his performance, McCullers Jr. wasn't in line for the win heading into the bottom half of the eighth. The Astros quickly rectified that, and made the home fans even happier with what they were watching.

Martín Maldonado would begin the inning with a base on balls, and Aledmys Díaz would single to put two on with no outs for professional hitter Michael Brantley. He didn't disappoint, lining a single off Alex Claudio into centerfield for a clutch RBI single.

And it would be Yuli Gurriel who finished Anaheim off -- Gurriel, who has arguably been the Astros' toughest out at the plate this season, rode a breaking ball that caught too much of the plate into the Crawford Boxes for a game-breaking three run homer.

Ryan Pressly came on for a no-nonsense ninth inning, and Houston secured the victory.

McCullers Jr. cut his ERA down to 3.10 with the win, and improved his record to 3-1 on the season. Over his last four starts, McCullers Jr. has an ERA of 2.00 with 31 strikeouts.

Houston will aim to take the rubber match against Anaheim on Wednesday. José Urquidy will face off against southpaw Andrew Heaney for Los Angeles. First pitch is scheduled for 7 PM CT.