ANAHEIM, Calif. -AP- Brian McCann didn't feel like celebrating very much. He was too worried about Houston.While incessant rain from Tropical Storm Harvey pounded Houston and much of Texas, McCann tripled with the bases loaded in the eighth inning to lead the Astros to a 7-5 win against the Los Angeles Angels on Sunday.
"It's tough, it really is tough," McCann said. "Our thoughts and prayers are with the people in the city of Houston. This is not good. You see pictures and it's devastating. You just pray for everybody's safety."The Astros tried to pay as much attention as possible to beating the Angels, but many players admitted it was hard. Manager A.J. Hinch noted some players probably went into the clubhouse to look at their phones during the game to make sure their loved ones were safe."We have families that are stuck, we have families that are in closets worried about tornadoes, a lot of heavy hearts and that's not even counting what we don't know," Hinch said. "It's a game and we played hard and there's a lot of people going through a lot in the world, but I think our guys were really concerned and continue to be concerned. This is not going to be solved by one win, this is not going to be solved overnight and we want our people to be safe."The Astros were headed to Dallas after the win. They are scheduled to host the Rangers on Tuesday night, but the fate of that three-game series is up in the air because of the devastating flooding in the area."Most of us are going to Dallas with an expectation that this whole series is going to be disrupted," Hinch said. "It's impossible for us to think based on the coverage that we're seeing out of Houston that there's going to baseball that needs to be played and will be played."Jose Altuve sparked the winning rally against Los Angeles with a two-out single against Cam Bedrosian (3-3). Josh Reddick then singled and Yuli Gurriel walked before McCann's drive just got over a leaping Mike Troutin center field, giving Houston a 7-5 lead."I knew it was hit pretty good. At night time, I catch it. I couldn't take my eye off it with the sun. We were battling the sun all day," Trout said. "The outfield was tough today. I told myself I had to jump. I just missed it."Los Angeles loaded the bases against Ken Giles in the ninth, but designated hitter Albert Pujols flied out to center field to end the game. Giles earned his 26th save.The American League-leading Astros (79-51) took two of three in the weekend series. The Angels (66-65) fell 1 1/2 games back of Minnesota in the race for the second AL wild card.Los Angeles erased a five-run deficit on its way to a 7-6 victory on Saturday night. It put together another big rally in the series finale.Ben Revere got the Angels on the board with a three-run double in the fifth and Luis Valbuena belted a two-run homer against Joe Musgrove (6-8) in the sixth, making it 5-4 Los Angeles."I'm very proud of our group. We play 162 of these (games). This one was played with a lot of emotion for a lot of reasons. Obviously it's just a game but it's a big win for us," Hinch said. "I thought our guys played hard and took a game when we could have just sort of backed down and taken another one on the chin and got back on the plane and tried to get back to Texas. Proud of our group obviously and kind of a tough day."SLUMPING TROUTTrout went 0 for 3 and is hitless in his last 17 at-bats. His career-worst slump is 0 for 18 in 2014.
If you enjoyed this article, please consider sharing it!
