run to left-center field, the infielder’s second homer of the game, to give Houston a 6-5 lead. No. 9 hitter Luis Guillorme singled to right and scored on Jeremy Pena’s RBI double to left for a 7-5 lead.

Pena took third on the throw home and scored on Jake Meyers’ sacrifice fly to right for an 8-5 lead. Jose Altuve walked and was picked off first, and Cam Smith walked before Strickland struck out Christian Walker with a 94 mph slider to end the inning.

The Angels rallied in the seventh on Schanuel’s two-out RBI single to left to cut the deficit to 8-6, and they had two on with two outs for Mike Trout. But Astros right-hander Bryan Abreu replaced left-hander Bryan King and struck out Trout with three straight sliders to end the inning.

The Angels rallied again off Astros closer Josh Hader in the ninth, Zach Neto leading off with the first pinch-hit homer of his career to cut the deficit to 8-7, and Schanuel doubling off the right-field wall with two outs. But Hader got Trout to line out sharply to center field to convert his 19th save in 19 chances.

“I thought it had a chance to drop, but it kind of hung up a little longer than I thought,” Trout said of his 103 mph line drive. “I had a chance in the seventh, got a little jumpy and tried to do too much. That last at-bat, I was trying to get a good pitch and put a good swing on the ball. They just caught it.”

The way the ball shot off Trout’s bat in the ninth, Montgomery thought the ball might go over the head of Meyers in center field.

“Yeah, unfortunately, only in my heart and hope,” Montgomery said. “That guy (Hader) is pretty good out there. That’s all you can do if you’re Mike, right? Hit the ball right on the screws. Bad aim.”

The Angels took a 2-0 lead in the fourth when Taylor Ward hit a two-out double to left field and Logan O’Hoppe poked a two-run home run over the short wall in left, the 17th homer of the season and the third in two games for the Angels catcher.

But Hendricks and the Angels defense combined to cough up that lead — and then some — in a four-run fifth inning in which only two of Houston’s runs were earned.

Dubón led off with a homer, somehow getting enough of the barrel to an 87 mph sinker that was way inside to send a 378-foot drive to left. One out later, Pena crushed a fat changeup 423 feet over the left-center field wall for his 11th homer and a 2-2 deadlock.

“That was actually a pretty good pitch – that’s what I was trying to do with it – just have to tip your hat on that one,” Hendricks said of Dubón’s homer. “Really good swing by him. He’s a really good hitter, though, and he can do that to you on the inside of the plate. But then the Pena one was a really bad changeup.”

Meyers then grounded a hard single past third baseman Luis Rengifo, stole second and scored when Rengifo booted Smith’s two-out grounder for his eighth error of the season. Walker pushed the lead to 4-2 with an RBI double to right-center.

The Angels counter-punched with three runs in the fifth for a 5-4 lead, LaMonte Wade Jr. and Christian Moore hitting singles and Schanuel walloping a 94 mph Ryan Gusto fastball that was above the zone for a two-out, three-run homer to right, his sixth of the season.

But Hendricks walked Cooper Hummel to open the sixth and handed the ball to Strickland, who coughed up the lead.

“Unbelievable job by the boys just fighting to stay in that game,” Hendricks said. “We get a lead, and I give it up – just a momentum-killer there.”

CHANGING IT UP

Jack Kochanowicz will start tonight’s series opener against the Boston Red Sox, giving the Angels right-hander another chance to try out his new toy, a one-seam changeup that he leaned heavily upon in last Wednesday’s 5 1/3-inning, two-hit, two-run, eight-strikeout effort in a 3-2 win over the New York Yankees.

“I was definitely happy with the way it was coming out,” said Kochanowicz, who induced seven of his 12 swinging strikes in Yankee Stadium with his changeup. “When you’re getting swings like that, you know it’s working.”

Pitching coach Barry Enright suggested the grip change — one that helps Kochanowicz get the same spin on his changeup that he does on his 96 mph sinker — before a June 13 game in Baltimore in which Kochanowicz allowed two runs before a fifth-inning rain delay ended his night.

The result is a changeup that not only sinks but fades away from left-handed hitters, who are batting .305 with a .937 OPS and 13 homers in 200 plate appearances against Kochanowicz this season. The 24-year-old has held right-handed hitters to a .254 average, .665 OPS and two homers in 137 plate appearances.

“I think it will be a good weapon — having something to go away (from left-handed hitters) is huge,” Kochanowicz said. “The changeup I was throwing before, it was going down, but it didn’t have that traditional fade to it. I wanted more horizontal movement.”

Kochanowicz averaged 90.9 mph on the 18 changeups he threw in New York, up from the 89.7 mph he averaged on the pitch in his first 14 starts.

One was a 94 mph changeup that struck out reigning American League most valuable player Aaron Judge in the first inning, a pitch Statcast identified as a sinker but Kochanowicz said was a changeup.

Ideally, Kochanowicz would like to keep his changeup in the 90 mph range to differentiate it more from his sinker and 96 mph four-seamer.

“I saw that — it surprised me, definitely,” Kochanowicz said of his 94 mph “offspeed” pitch to Judge. “I think I was just fired up for the at-bat. He’s the best hitter in the world.”

TROUT PASSES TEST

Trout gave his bruised left knee its first real test since coming off the injured list in late May when he scored from first base on Taylor Ward’s third-inning double Saturday night. He may not have aced it, but he passed.

“It wasn’t bad,” Trout said on Sunday. “Just dealing with the soreness after games. I felt it a little bit running, but it’s not getting worse.”

Trout has made all 21 of his starts since his return at designated hitter, and Montgomery couldn’t put a date on a potential return to the field.

“It’s limited now,” Montgomery said of Trout’s pregame defensive work, “but I think in his mind, there’s a progression coming. Exercising caution is the most important thing, but in the same breath, he wants to get back out there. You guys know him.”

Trout has historically chafed at DH days, believing he is a better hitter when he plays both sides of the ball, but the need to keep the three-time AL MVP’s bat in the lineup currently outweighs the risk of aggravating the knee injury by playing him in the field.

“It’s really hard for him,” Montgomery said of Trout being relegated to DH. “I can’t relate. I was never that talented. When you do what he does for as long as he’s done it, to have to be restricted in what you do, it’s tough.”

Is Trout getting antsy to return to right field?

“No doubt,” he said. “I like being engaged. It’s a little different because you (don’t) have the defense to get your mind off of hitting. It’s definitely a different mindset, but at least I’m in the lineup.”