Correa’s blast in 13th inning lifts Astros to second consecutive win over Angels
With 3-run HR, Correa delivers his 2nd big hit of week in frame
ANAHEIM, Calif. — For 12 innings and nearly five hours, Carlos Correa watched Sunday’s game unfold from the visitors’ dugout at Angel Stadium. This was his day off, his second of the season, and Astros manager A.J. Hinch had opted against using his young star as a pinch hitter earlier in the afternoon.
But in the 13th, Correa stepped to the plate with two runners on base and two outs. The 21-yearold shortstop promptly launched a Mike Morin changeup over the leftfield fence, thus ending five innings without a run by either team.
Correa’s pinch-hit, three run home run lifted the Astros to an 8-6 win against the Los Angeles Angels, clinching their first series win against an American League West foe. The long ball was Correa’s eighth of the season and his first with anyone on base.
“Best day off ever,” Cor-
rea said.
And quite a bookend performance. It was Correa’s 13th-inning walkoff single against the Orioles on Tuesday that got the Astros started on a 5-1 week.
“I was in the cage in the seventh inning, in the ninth inning, in the 11th inning and then in the 13th inning, so I was ready to go,” Correa said. “I was kind of getting tired of swinging so much, but when the chance got there, I had a plan, and it worked out pretty well.”
Shades of Eusebio
Correa was 6 the last time the Astros had a pinch-hit home run in extra innings. It was Tony Eusebio who delivered that one against the Cubs on May 15, 2001.
Tyler White and Marwin Gonzalez each notched one-out singles off Morin in the 13th to set the stage for Correa, who batted for nine-hole hitting Tony Kemp. The Astros had wasted a prime scoring chance three innings earlier. Correa, the reigning AL Rookie of the Year who came in hitting just .217 in May and .241 for the season, didn’t squander this one.
“Actually, earlier in the inning, I considered using him as a runner,” Astros manager A.J. Hinch said. “With (Luis) Valbuena and White at the top of the inning, the debate was use his legs or use his bat. I’m glad we went with the bat.
“Ironically, I wanted to stay away from him and give him a complete day off. But an at-bat like that and a big home run like that could do wonders for him moving forward.”
The previous scoring chance the Astros squandered came in the 10th inning. Kole Calhoun, the Angels’ Gold Glove right fielder, dropped an Evan Gattis line drive that put two baserunners in scoring position with just one out.
But after the Angels had sidearming righthander Joe Smith intentionally walk Valbuena, White struck out, and Gonzalez smoked a ball right at first baseman Kaleb Cowart to end the threat.
An inning later, the Angels took their turn at wasting a golden chance. After Calhoun ripped a one-out triple, Hinch had Pat Neshek intentionally walk Mike Trout and Albert Pujols to face the much-less threatening Johnny Giavotella and Rafael Ortega.
The strategy paid off. Neshek struck out Giavotella and induced a weak pop fly to shortstop from Ortego.
Ken Giles blew a onerun Astros lead in the seventh, surrendering two runs on two hits, a walk and a safety squeeze. C.J. Cron ripped a leadoff double and advanced to third base on a slider in the dirt that catcher Gattis blocked but could not find around the feet of Trout.
After Trout walked, Pujols lined the game-tying single to right field. Giavotella followed by laying down a bunt, and Trout scored to put the Angels up 5-4.
Valbuena ties it
The margin was shortlived. Gattis opened the eighth with a double off Fernando Salas and scored on a Valbuena single to tie the game again.
Jose Altuve paced the Astros with four hits, breaking out of his recent slump with his first multi-hit performance in 10 games. Jake Marisnick delivered his biggest swing of the season, doubling his season RBI total to date with a two-run homer off former Astros pitcher Nick Tropeano in a threerun fifth. The homer was Marisnick’s first of the season and the Astros’ first from a center fielder.
Doug Fister, the Astros’ most consistent starter this season, continued his string of steady performances in allowing three runs over six innings. Calhoun tagged him for a solo home run in the first inning, and the Angels scrapped across a run in each of the fifth and sixth innings.
The Angels’ two-run seventh marked the second consecutive outing in which Giles yielded runs after nine straight scoreless appearances. Scott Feldman logged a scoreless eighth, and Will Harris worked around two one-out baserunners in a scoreless ninth, his 22nd consecutive scoreless outing.
By the end of the game, only Chris Devenski, who logged 41⁄3 innings Friday, remained in the Astros bullpen. Luke Gregerson allowed a run in the 13th but recorded his 12th save in 15 opportunities.