Correa walk-off pushes Astros past Angels
HOUSTON -- Carlos Correa hit a two-run, walk-off single in the ninth inning to rally the Houston Astros to a 3-2 victory over the Los Angles Angels on Tuesday night at Minute Maid Park.
Correa, whose leadoff homer in the fifth inning served as the lone run scored against Angels left-hander Hector Santiago, lined a 3-2 pitch from Angels closer Huston Street (2-1) into the right-center field gap to score George Springer and Marwin Gonzalez, both of whom had walked.
Astros second baseman Jose Altuve followed Gonzalez with a grounder off the glove of third baseman Yunel Escobar to load the bases for Correa. The Astros (36-36) pulled to .500 for the first time since April 6. Astros right-hander Luke Gregerson (1-1) earned the victory in relief.
Santiago continued his stellar recent work against the Astros by allowing just one run on three hits and two walks with four strikeouts over 6 1/3 innings and 80 pitches. The Angels (31-40) had won each of his previous three starts against Houston, with Santiago going 1-0 with a 1.85 ERA over four starts against the Astros last season.
After facing the minimum through four innings thanks in part to some poor Astros baserunning in the third inning and an inning-ending double play in the fourth, Santiago surrendered the homer to Correa, his 11th on the season. Santiago induced another double play in the sixth and struck out the final batter, Altuve, with a runner on second in the seventh.
Angels right-handers Cam Bedrosian and Fernando Salas held the one-run lead for Street, who failed to retire any of the four batters he faced.
McHugh was in great peril just three batters into his start, with Trout producing an RBI single to left field after Yunel Escobar reached on a leadoff infield single and Kole Calhoun took first after being hit by a pitch. McHugh, though, dug in and limited the damage to one run by stranding Escobar and Trout in scoring position, setting a positive tone.
Despite surrendering a leadoff home run to C.J. Cron in the fourth inning -- Cron's sixth of the season -- McHugh proved elusive and effective. He managed clean innings in the second, fifth and seventh, but escaped great danger in the sixth when Trout blooped a hit to right field that George Springer played into a triple with an ill-conceived dive.
McHugh followed by striking out Daniel Nava before benefitting from a nice defensive play from Correa. After he walked Jefrey Marte, McHugh induced Johnny Giavotella to hit a soft grounder back to the mound, closing his book with five hits, one walk and six strikeouts in seven innings.
NOTES: Angels DH Albert Pujols was not in the starting lineup, a "recovery day" for a left hamstring injury suffered on Sunday in Oakland. ... Astros 2B Jose Altuve continues to lead the voting as the American League starter at his position for the All-Star Game. Altuve, a three-time All-Star, had 1,606,705 votes in the update released Tuesday. ... The Angels traded INF/OF Kyle Kubitza to the Rangers for cash considerations. Kubitza was designated for assignment June 13. Kubitza hit .194/.256/.194 with one RBI in 19 games with the Angels last season. His production with Triple-A Salt Lake had declined this season, with Kubitza posting a .714 OPS in 54 games compared to a .791 OPS in 117 games in 2015. ... Astros SS Carlos Correa hit cleanup for the seventh time this season. In his previous six games batting fourth, Correa slashed .286/.444/.619 with two homers and six walks in 27 plate appearances.