Angels 4, Astros 0: Garrett Richards pitched eight strong innings and matched a career high with nine strikeouts as Los Angeles defeated host Houston to halt a season-worst four-game losing streak.

Erick Aybar, C.J. Cron and David Freese each had two hits and an RBI for the Angels, who again were without the injured Mike Trout (back). Howie Kendrick added a run-scoring single as Los Angeles improved to 6-3 against the Astros this season.

Richards (5-2) allowed just four hits without issuing a walk while earning his first victory since May 14. Joe Smith finished up with a perfect ninth in a non-save situation.

Los Angeles pushed across a run in the fifth against Jarred Cosart (4-5) as Freese doubled with one out and scored on Cron’s two-out single to right. The Angels added two more in the sixth when Kendrick and Freese stroked back-to-back, two-out RBI singles, and Aybar added a run-scoring double in the ninth.

Richards bounced back from an outing in which he retired only two batters and gave up five runs in a loss to Oakland last Friday. He struck out the side on nine pitches in the second inning as Jon Singleton went down swinging, Matt Dominguez was called out on strikes and Chris Carter couldn’t make contact on three consecutive swings.

GAME NOTEBOOK: An MRI exam ruled out a serious back ailment for Trout, who is expected to miss the series finale and has just one at-bat and played just one inning on defense over the last four contests. … Astros SS Jonathan Villar (elbow) sat out after being plunked by a pitch in Tuesday’s game. … Cosart matched his career best of eight strikeouts and allowed three runs and eight hits in 6 2/3 innings.