Globe Life offers friendly confines

As a team, the Astros have certainly made themselves at home at Globe Life Field, winning six of seven games.

Few visitors arguably kicked their feet up more at the Texas Rangers’ home this year than Chas McCormick and José Abreu.

When it comes to visiting ballparks, McCormick has only notched more hits at Anaheim’s Angel Stadium (21 in 22 games) than he has at Globe Life Field (20 in 20).

McCormick’s visits to Arlington this season have been akin to soaking in the waters at Lourdes. He hit .500 (11-for-22) in six games there, with two homers among his six extra-base hits, and 8 RBIs.

In a series there to open July, he had goahead hits in the eighth and ninth innings in consecutive games the Astros rallied to win. That jump-started a monster month for McCormick, who hit .351 in July with a 1.128 OBS, with 6 homers and 23 RBIs in 22 games. Twelve of his 27 hits in the month went for extra bases.

“Yeah, I think that was what got me going,” he said. “The beginning of July is when I got going, I thought. Just playing the Rangers, it feels like a playoff game when we play them, no matter what.”

McCormick is 2-for-8 to start the ALCS. He twice came up in Monday’s Game 2 in key spots with a runner in scoring position but didn’t cash in either time.

Abreu, meanwhile, is 1-for-7 with four strikeouts in the ALCS. That came on the heels of a huge division series when he homered three times and drove in a team-best eight runs in four games against Minnesota.

Arlington has been an ideal get-well spot for him this season. He hit .333 with a 1.108 OPS with 3 homers and 15 RBIs in seven games there, nearly half of the runs he drove in (35) in 69 games at home. Abreu had 11 RBIs during the Astros’ three-game sweep in early September — including seven in the series finale — to kick-start a strong finish to the regular season.

“I don’t know,” Abreu said through an interpreter about his Arlington prowess. “Obviously, it’s a different ballpark. Maybe it’s something where I see the ball better or feel a little more confident over there. Those things I really don’t have an answer to. Obviously, they have a beautiful stadium, like we do here. Hopefully we continue to get on those rolls.”