LDN - Sports

Correa walk-off pushes Astros past Angels

[June 22, 2016] HOUSTON -- As the inning developed before him, with George Springer and Marwin Gonzalez and Jose Altuve reaching base in succession in the bottom of the ninth inning, Houston Astros shortstop Carlos Correa began visualizing his heroics, the winning hit off his bat, and the ensuing jubilation, imagery that has become quite familiar to him this season.

Correa recorded his third walk-off hit this season, lining a two-run single off Angels closer Huston Street to rally the Houston Astros to a 3-2 win over the Los Angles Angels on Tuesday night at Minute Maid Park.

Correa, whose leadoff homer in the fifth inning sliced a two-run deficit in half, drilled a 3-2 fastball from Street (2-1) into the right-center field gap to score Springer and Gonzalez, both of whom had walked.

Altuve scorched a grounder off the glove of third baseman Yunel Escobar to load the bases for Correa, who went 2-for-4 with three RBIs and helped the Astros (36-36) reach .500 for the first time since April 6.

"Every time there's a situation like that I try to visualize myself getting that hit and us celebrating," Correa said. "I'm glad it's happened like (three) times this year.

"That's the situation I want to be in. I want to be in that situation every day. I want to be able to feel the pressure; that drives me. I feel comfortable in that situation."

Angels left-hander Hector Santiago continued his stellar recent work against the Astros by allowing one run on three hits and two walks with four strikeouts over 6 1/3 innings. The Angels (31-40) had won each of his previous three starts against Houston, with Santiago finishing 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 shoddy Astros baserunning in the third inning and an inning-ending double play in the fourth, Santiago surrendered the homer to Correa, his 11th. But Santiago induced another double play in the sixth and struck out his final batter, Altuve, with a runner on second base in the seventh.

"Our job is to try to put up as many zeros as we can," Santiago said. "Not only for me, but for the team. A win is a team thing. If I don't get it, it's OK as long as we win. It's definitely a tough one."

Right-handers Cam Bedrosian and Fernando Salas handed that one-run lead to Street, who failed to retire any of the four batters he faced.

"Huston looked like he had trouble with everything," Angels manager Mike Scioscia said. "He wasn't able to get his slider where he needed it to be. He wasn't able to get his fastball where he wanted it to be or his changeup. He's had trouble getting pitches into good zones. You walk the first guy, and that's a recipe for something bad to happen."

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Astros right-hander Collin McHugh faced peril just three batters into his start, with Angels center fielder Mike Trout producing an RBI single after Escobar reached on a leadoff infield hit and Kole Calhoun was hit by a pitch. But McHugh 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 homer in the fourth inning to C.J. Cron, his sixth of the season, McHugh proved elusive and effective, alluding additional danger in the sixth when Trout blooped a hit to right field that Springer played into a leadoff triple with an ill-conceived dive.

McHugh then struck out Daniel Nava before getting from a nice defensive play from Correa. McHugh walked Jefrey Marte but induced Johnny Giavotella to hit a grounder back to the mound, and closed his ledger with five hits, one walk and six strikeouts in seven innings.

"You want to get outs and if (Trout) scores he scores, but when you get a chance for a punch out there you've got to go for it," McHugh said. "That's what we were able to do with Nava and Carlos makes a tremendous play on Cron and we take our chances with the next couple guys."

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.

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