Astros top Rangers in last game before return to Houston
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — After a difficult three-game “home” series in front of sparse crowds 1,000 miles from their ballpark, the Houston Astros are heading back to their floodravaged city. And they’re putting their inconvenience in perspective.
Jose Altuve homered, the Houston bullpen pitched 4 1/3 scoreless innings and the Astros beat the Texas Rangers 5-1 on Thursday in the last game before they return to Houston.
Josh Reddick added an RBI single for the AL West-leading Astros, who avoided a threegame sweep at the hands of their instate rivals at Tropicana Field, where the series was relocated because of Hurricane Harvey.
“It’s been a tough week,” Astros pitcher Collin McHugh said. “Obviously, we’re really fortunate in so many ways, to have been able to escape the devastation that’s actually happened in Houston. We’ve been away for a while, and we’re all ready to get back home.”
Houston will have a previously unscheduled day off Friday and play a doubleheader Saturday against the Mets at Minute Maid Park. The downtown Houston stadium escaped major flood damage. Astros president Reid Ryan has said he hopes the weekend games “can serve as a welcome distraction” for the city.
For the Rangers, it was their first loss all year
at the Tampa Bay Rays’ home park. They swept the Rays in a three-game series in June.
Chris Devenski (7-3) worked 2 1/3 innings in relief of McHugh to get the win.
Ken Giles pitched the final two innings for his 27th save in 30 opportunities.
Devenski plans to spend part of the day off helping out wherever he can.
“It’s been tough on me because, in all reality, we should be there,” Devenski said. “We should have been there from the start of this.”