HOUSTON — Jon Singleton’s tiebreaking two-run double with two outs in the eighth inning lifted the Houston Astros to a 3-1 win over the Los Angeles Angels on Thursday night.The game was tied 1-1 when Ryan Miller (0-1) walked Yordan Alvarez and Kyle Tucker to start the eighth. A fielder’s-choice grounder by Yainer Diaz sent Alvarez to third.Jeremy Peña grounded out on a ball that rolled just in front of the batter’s box before the Angels intentionally walked Victor Caratini to load the bases.Singleton then smacked his two-strike double, a line drive to center field to score Alvarez and Diaz.“It means a lot,” Singleton said. “Any time you get a chance like that to come through for the ballclub, it feels good.”Houston’s magic number to clinch the AL West dropped to five.Yusei Kikuchi allowed five hits and a run while striking out nine in six innings as the Astros improved to 9-0 in his nine starts since a trade from Toronto on July 29.“He throws strikes, he’s a competitor,” manager Joe Espada said. “The guys love playing behind him. We expect to win every single time he’s on the mound. When he goes on the mound just his attitude, the energy, you feel it.”He is 5-0 with a 3.00 ERA and .189 opponent batting average with 68 strikeouts since coming to Houston.“As soon as I got traded, my mindset was I’m going to win every game for this ballclub every time I’m out there on the mound,” Kikuchi said through an interpreter. “So it seems like it’s working out right now.”Taylor Ward hit a leadoff homer for …
