Shoemaker elevating game in last two starts

ANAHEIM — For much of the 2016 season, Angels manager Mike Scioscia wasn’t sure which version of right-hander Matt Shoemaker he was going to get.

Good Matt Shoemaker showed up for the second consecutive start Friday night, tossing a career-high 8 1/3 innings of two-run ball and striking out 11 in a 7-2 win over the Astros at Angel Stadium.

Shoemaker was dominant from the start, building off of the momentum from his last start against the Orioles, in which he threw a then-season-high 7 1/3 shutout innings, striking out 12. He held the Astros scoreless until the ninth, when reliever Cam Bedrosian gave up a two-run single to Colin Moran, and he was already out of the ballgame. He is the first player in Angels franchise history to strike out 10 or more hitters and walk none in back-to-back starts.

Few, if any, could have seen this coming after a start to the season that saw him demoted to Triple-A with a 9.15 April ERA. Well, except for maybe Scioscia.

“We always felt that at some point he was going to get back to …

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