HOUSTON -- Garrett Richards followed the worst start of his career with one of his best. He also a truly special inning, striking out the side on just nine pitches. Richards fanned nine to match his major league best, helping the Los Angeles Angels snap a season-worst four-game skid with a 4-0 win over Houston Astros on Wednesday night. Richards (5-2) bounced back from a terrible outing in his last start when he allowed five runs while getting only two outs. It was the shortest non-injury-related start of his career. "I definitely came into this game with a little chip on my shoulder," Richards said. "Last one was embarrassing. And thats not the pitcher I am." In the second, he joined Nolan Ryan as the only Angels pitchers to strike out the side on nine pitches. Ryan did it in 1972. "That was my guy growing up," Richards said. "Its cool. Its cool to be put in a group with a guy like that. I didnt even realize it until after the game." Richards gave up four hits and walked none in eight innings. Of his first 35 pitches, 32 were strikes. Joe Smith struck out one in a hitless ninth. Erick Aybar had two doubles and an RBI and David Freese doubled and drove in a run for the Angels. Jarred Cosart (4-5) allowed eight hits and three runs and tied a career-high with eight strikeouts in 6 2-3 innings. Dexter Fowler had two hits for the Astros, but no one else could get anything going against Richards. Heralded prospect Jon Singleton went 0 for 4 with two strikeouts in his second major league game after homering in his debut on Tuesday night. Fowlers ground-rule double led things off for the Astros, but Richards retired the next eight batters. Fowler singled with two outs in the third but Jose Altuve grounded into a force out to end the inning. Richard located his pitches well all night, but his control was impeccable early in the game. "Garrett was ready," manager Mike Scioscia said. "I dont know if it was based on the last outing which was obviously tough for him. He just showed great command with all his pitches." Houston manager Bo Porter was impressed. "(He) had electric stuff tonight from the very first pitch until he left the game in the eighth," he said. "He was throwing 95, 96 late in the game with a wipeout slider. That is what you call dominating stuff." Freese doubled with one out in the fifth and C.J. Cron put the Angels on top 1-0 with his RBI single with two outs. Aybar hit a one-out double in the sixth before Albert Pujols drew a walk. Howie Kendrick and Freese hit back to back singles with two outs to stretch the lead to 3-0. The Angels didnt get a hit until Albert Pujols singled with two outs in the fourth inning, but Cosart struck out Josh Hamilton for the third out. Hamilton played centre field on Wednesday night in his second game back from the disabled list with star Mike Trout out again with back problems. Collin Cowgill entered the game as a pinch-runner in the eighth and took over in centre field and Hamilton moved to left. Cowgill preserved the shutout by sprinting to make a catch on the track just before Tals Hill in centre field on a fly ball hit by George Springer for the last out in the eighth. Trout had an MRI on Wednesday and said it didnt reveal any damage. He has some inflammation in the middle of his back on the left side and hopes to return to the lineup on Thursday. Trout missed two games with stiffness in his upper back before starting Tuesday night in Houston. He left that game in the second inning because of his back problem. He said that he feels a lot better on Wednesday than he did when he left the game on Tuesday night. "If I dont feel it at all, Im going to play," he said. "If I feel it a little bit, I should just be smart about it." NOTES: The series wraps up on Thursday when Los Angeles LHP Tyler Skaggs opposes Brad Peacock. ... 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But the most recent came in 2010, and Nadals past two trips to Wimbledon were quite brief: He lost in the second round in 2012, and the first round in 2013. "I want to try to play well again in Wimbledon," the No. 1-ranked Nadal declared Sunday night after beating No. 2 Novak Djokovic 3-6, 7-5, 6-2, 6-4 in the French Open final to improve to 66-1 at the clay-court tournament. "Im healthy. Thats the most important thing, I feel." The big question about Nadal always was longevity, and whether his 6-foot-1 (1.85-meter), 188-pound (85-kilogram) body would hold up to the constant pounding from his relentless style. Well, now he is the only man with at least one Grand Slam title in 10 consecutive years. And having turned 28 last week, the Spaniard is roughly two months older than Federer was when he got his 14th major. But Nadal was slowed by a bad back during a loss in Januarys Australian Open final. Of more concern: his knees. He decided not to defend his Wimbledon title in 2009, then was sidelined for the last half of 2012 because of a problem with his left knee. "I hope my knee will have the positive feeling on grass, because I feel my knee (is) better than last year in the rest of the surfaces," Nadal said. "Grass always was a little bit harder for me after the injury." This part of the tennis schedule is unforgiving, allowing two weeks to adjust from clay to grass between the French Open and Wimbledon. That changes next year, when a third week gets added. For now, there is time to contemplate story lines that will matter when Wimbledon starts June 23. Djokovic, for example, will try to set aside hiss latest disappointment in Paris, coming up short again in his bid to complete a career Grand Slam.dddddddddddd Djokovic has won six major titles — four at the Australian Open, plus one each at Wimbledon and the U.S. Open — but he has lost in the finals at three of the last four Slams. That includes a defeat at the All England Club a year ago, when Andy Murray became the first British man to win the title since Fred Perry in 1936. So Murray would be the centre of attention, anyway, and he gave everyone another reason to keep a close eye on him by hiring former womens No. 1 Amelie Mauresmo as his new coach. The fourth member of the Big Four, Federer, has lost before the quarterfinals at three of the last four Slams, a stretch that began with a second-round exit at Wimbledon. It will also be worth watching how players who had breakthroughs at the French Open follow that up. Ernests Gulbis, for one. Simona Halep, Andrea Petkovic and Garbine Muguruza, too. And then there are a couple of previous Wimbledon winners who followed very different paths in Paris. Serena Williams was the defending champion at the French Open, and departed in the second round, beaten 6-2, 6-2 by Muguruza. Williams vowed to "go home and work five times as hard to make sure I never lose again." After her last early exit at Roland Garros — in 2012s first round — she went on to win Wimbledon and the U.S. Open. Sharapova, meanwhile, earned a second French Open title and fifth major overall, overcoming a dozen double-faults in her three-set victory over Halep in the final. Now its on to Wimbledon, where Sharapova won her first Grand Slam championship at age 17 in 2004. "Even though you always remember those incredible moments of holding that trophy," Sharapova said, "you got to try to erase that from your mind because you got to create new ones." ___ Howard Fendrich covers tennis for The Associated Press. Write to him at hfendrich@ap.org or reach him via Twitter at http://twitter.com/HowardFendrich ' ' '