HOUSTON — The Angels tagged six runs on Astros starter David Paulino and reliever Michael Feliz in the fifth inning en route to a 12-6 win on Sunday at Minute Maid Park, sealing a series victory against the hottest team in the Majors.

The Astros, who dropped their first series to an American League West opponent, used a four-run fourth inning to open a three-run lead before the fateful fifth. Feliz replaced Paulino and promptly surrendered a three-run homer to Eric Young Jr., capping the big inning and giving the Halos a 9-6 lead.

The Angels tacked on three insurance runs in the seventh and eighth innings to seal the vcitory — their fourth against the Astros this season. The win returned the Angels to .500, at 33-33. Houston is 21-8 against the AL West in 2017.

In the first inning, Albert Pujols put the Halos up 1-0 with a solo shot — his 601st career home run — to left-center field. The 408-foot blast was Pujols’ 56th home run against the Astros, the most any player has ever hit against Houston in the regular season.

George Springer ripped a two-run homer — his 17th this season — to bring the Astros within one run in the third. In the next inning, Yuli Gurriel extended his hitting streak to 11 games with a solo homer to Minute Maid’s Crawford Boxes.

MOMENTS THAT MATTERED
Tied no more:: Young Jr. tagged Feliz with a three-run homer in the fifth inning to break a tie. It was Young’s second homer this season, and traveled a Statcast-estimated 392 feet to straightaway right field.

Astros take control, briefly:Trailing 3-2 heading into the bottom of the fourth, Houston batted around, piling on four runs and taking a momentary lead. Gurriel led off the frame with his seventh homer. Then, two hits and one walk later, Norichika Aoki and Josh Reddick plated two more with an RBI double and single, respectively, before a Jose Altuve RBI single completed the Astros’ scoring.