HOUSTON — As Jo Adell looked back on the way the Angels handled the Houston Astros’ pitchers in a 7-2 victory on Tuesday night, he mentioned his injured teammate.

No, not Mike Trout.

“We Fletched them,” Adell said, referring to shortstop David Fletcher, who is known for finding ways to drop even the weakest hit balls where the fielders aren’t.

The Angels put the game away with a five-run fifth inning that included three straight hits by Anthony Rendon, Matt Duffy and Jack Mayfield that had exit velocities of 80 mph or less.

“They have really, really strong pitching, guys who throw really hard,” Adell said. “For us to just put balls in play and kind of see what happens, and we end up having 13 hits and a lot of runs scored. That’s what happens when you battle and put the ball in play. We did a good job of that tonight.”

Ironically, the Angels did much better on Tuesday night against Houston left-hander Framber Valdez than they did in the season opener, when Valdez held them to no runs and two hits. And that lineup had Trout, who is now out with a bruised left hand.

Without him, the Angels chipped away, scoring single runs in the second and fourth – with significant Adell hits in both innings – before they blew the game open in the fifth.

Taylor Ward, Rendon, Duffy and Mayfield had consecutive hits against Valdez, knocking him out of the game. Kurt Suzuki then greeted reliever Bryan Abreu with a two-run double, and Brandon Marsh drove him in with a single, putting the Angels ahead, 7-1.

All told, the Angels had 13 hits, including at least one from eight of the nine starters. The only starter without a hit was Shohei Ohtani, and he drew a walk.

Adell had three hits, while Ward, Mayfield and Rendon had two apiece.

“We passed the torch up and down the lineup,” Manager Joe Maddon said. “Good at-bats everywhere, ran the bases hard again. Again, another team victory.”

Just as the offense was more effective than pretty, starter Patrick Sandoval ended up not allowing an earned run, even though he at times struggled to locate his fastball and put away the Astros hitters. He needed 85 pitches to get through four innings.

“They execute on my misses,” Sandoval said. “They make me pay. I have to throw more pitches. They’re very patient up there, so just a battle.”

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The toughest battle of the night was an 11-pitch duel with No. 9 hitter Martin Maldonado, with two outs and two on in a game the Angels led 2-1 in the fourth. Sandoval kept firing fastballs and Maldonado kept fouling them off, before finally hitting a fly ball to center.

Just after that, the Angels scored five runs.

“There’s always going to be a seminal moment in the ballgame,” Maddon said. “And we came through.”

Maddon then turned to the bullpen. Right-hander Oliver Ortega retired the Astros in order on nine pitches immediately after the five-run inning, the quintessential shutdown inning.

Ortega worked two scoreless innings. Jimmy Herget, Aaron Loup and Andrew Wantz combined for the final three innings.