HOUSTON (AP) ¡ª or the Houston Astros.White hit a go-ahead two-run double in a
five-run eighth
inning
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Alex Bregman homered and the Astros beat the Los Angeles Angels 7-3 on Saturday
night.¡°Those guys setting the table is the big thing,¡± White said. ¡°Kemp getting
the hit and George (Springer) with the interference and Carlos (Correa) coming
up with the big two-out hit is what got me in that situation. I just tried to
get a good pitch to hit and take the same as any other at-bat.¡±With the score
tied in the eighth, White hit a pitch to left field off Hansel Robles that
missed being a home run by just feet. The ball bounced off the top of the metal
scoreboard and back into left field. Springer and Correa came around to score,
putting the Astros ahead 5-3.Since the All-Star break, White has 16 extra-base
hits with 26 RBIs. This is the second time this week White has provided the
eventual game-winning runs. White hit a tiebreaking home run in Wednesday¡¯s 5-4
win against Oakland in the ninth inning.The Astros entered leading the American
League West by 1 1/2 games over Oakland.Correa drove in the tying run earlier in
the eighth with an RBI single to center off Cam Bedrosian (5-4).¡°It was big,¡±
Astros manager AJ Hinch said. ¡°The swings have gotten a little bit better, his
preparation has been great. He carries the burden and is so hard on himself and
he wants to come through.¡±Bedrosian (5-4) gave up three runs and two hits while
striking out one in two-thirds of an inning.¡°There was all these things that
were going the wrong way but still Cam had the chance and made a pitch to Correa
to get out of it,¡± Angels manager Mike Scioscia said. ¡°He just left a fastball
over the heart of the plate and he lined it to center.¡±The Astros piled it on as
two more runs scored off a misplayed ball by Eric Young Jr. Marwin Gonzalez hit
a deep fly ball to left-center, which Young attempted a leaping catch on but
missed and crashed into the wall. White and Josh Reddick came into score,
capping the five-run eighth and making it 7-3.¡°That eighth inning was about the
reverse of what last night¡¯s eighth inning was,¡± Hinch said.¡±We got the big hit,
we got the big connected at-bats one good at-bat after another and delivered a
couple of big swings.¡±The Angels committed four errors on the night.Joe Smith
(5-1) got the win after giving up one hit and striking out one in two-thirds of
an inning.The struggles of the Angels¡¯ bullpen wasted one of Felix Pena¡¯s best
starts of his career. Pena gave up just two runs in seven innings.¡°Felt good.
Really good actually,¡± Pena said through a translator. ¡°I felt positive even
though the result wasn¡¯t on our side.¡±In the
sixth
Paul
Molitor Jersey , Bregman crushed his 26th home run of the season, making
it 3-2. This extended his reached base safely streak to 29 games.Josh James made
his major league pitching debut for the Astros and gave up three runs and five
hits. He walked three and struck out nine ¡ª tying the second-most by an Astros
pitcher making his debut.¡°Josh James did a great job of channeling a lot of
adrenaline early,¡± Hinch said. ¡°That first inning has to be the most
adrenaline-filled inning he¡¯s ever pitched in his life. He came out, showed
great arm strength and kind of stayed away from his strength of the secondary
pitch until later in the outing.¡±Kole Calhoun provided the only offense for the
Angels with a three-run home run in the second inning. It was Calhoun¡¯s 18th of
the season.Justin Upton, who went 0-3, left the game with a mild concussion
after nearly colliding with shortstop Andrelton Simmons chasing down a popup in
shallow left field. Upton slid under Simmons as he made the catch. He is listed
day-to-day.SEPTEMBER CALLUPSAngels: RHP Miguel Almonte and INF Jose Fernandez
were called up from Triple-A Salt Lake and also selected RHP Junichi Tazawa to
the major league roster.Astros: OF Jake Marisnick and C Brian McCann were both
activated from the 10-day disabled list and LHP Cionel Perez was called up from
Triple-A Fresno. Marisnick and McCann both played on Saturday.TRAINER¡¯S
ROOMAngels: RHP Matt Shoemaker (forearm) will start for the Angels on Monday at
the Texas Rangers. It will be his first since March 31, which has been his only
start of the season.UP NEXTAngels: RHP Shohei Ohtani (4-1, 3.10 ERA) will make
his first start since June 6 on Sunday. Ohtani¡¯s 61 strikeouts through his first
nine starts are the most in franchise history.Astros: RHP Gerrit Cole (12-5,
2.85 ERA) gets the start in the series finale. Cole has 234 strikeouts, which
ranks third in the majors. SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. (AP) ¡ª When injuries depleted the
Arizona outfield last season, middle infielder Ketel Marte volunteered to be an
interim option.The Diamondbacks are taking him up on that offer this year.Marte
will move from second base to center field this season as the Diamondbacks
reconfigure following the loss of free agent center fielder A.J. Pollock and a
perceived dearth of free agents or trade options to replace him.¡°He feels like
he can do anything in this game, and I love
that
Tony Oliva
Jersey ,¡± Arizona manager Torey Lovullo said.¡°Last year when A.J. went
down, he said, ¡®I¡¯ll be the best center fielder. If you need somebody, put me
out there.¡¯ That was our starting point with him this year.¡±Marte made all of
his 132 starts in the middle infield in 2018, 105 at second base, and he also
reached career highs in virtually every offensive category after signing a
five-year, $24 million contract last March.He led the NL with 12 triples and had
26 doubles, 14 homers and 59 RBIs in his first full season.While Marte still
will play infield in some lineup configurations this season, he has embraced the
move to center.¡°I want to do whatever is best for the team,¡± Marte said.Marte
played two games in center field with Seattle as a rookie in 2015, and Arizona
believes his athleticism and aptitude will help lessen the inevitable learning
curve.By his request, Marte has done most of his early work this spring at
second base to lock down that spot before beginning the outfield immersion. He
also is the only backup shortstop on the roster.¡°From an instincts standpoint,
from an intelligence
standpoint
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from a raw ability standpoint, athleticism and speed . he has those things,¡±
general manager Mike Hazen said, adding that ¡°of course¡± there will be bumps
along the way.¡°It¡¯s a hard position to play. There are the areas that reps, only
reps, live reps, are going to replicate.¡±Seattle¡¯s Dee Gordon made the same
transition from second base to center field in 2018 before returning to second
following Robinson Cano¡¯s 80-game suspension, and he acknowledged it was not
easy.¡°It¡¯s big-league hitters hitting the ball as hard as they can and you¡¯ve
never played that spot before,¡± Gordon said. ¡°And if you drop it, they have two
or three bases. That¡¯s the hard part. If the ball went past me at second base,
that¡¯s just a base hit.¡±Marte¡¯s shift also will create a different infield
dynamic, with free agent Wilmer Flores taking over at second. Marte and
shortstop Nick Ahmed were key parts of a defense that ¡°saved¡± an NL-high 122
runs over the average defense last season, according to a baseballreference.com
metric.But with Pollock and Paul Goldschmidt gone from a team that scored only
693 runs a year
ago
Kennys
Vargas Jersey , 119 fewer than they had in 2017, finding a way to create
more scoring was another factor in Marte¡¯s position shift. Flores has 61 homers
as a semi-regular in his last four seasons with the Mets.¡°Offense was probably
an area where we ended up being a little deficient last year overall, so we have
made a couple of moves where hopefully we can address some of that,¡± Hazen said.
¡°Obviously, the loss of Goldy and A.J. is going to contribute as well, but as
far as the defensive alignment goes, even though we might be sacrificing a
little bit of defense, we might be better suited offensively.¡±Marte made a
slight swing adjustment after a slow start last season and finished strong,
hitting .296 with a .841 OPS after the All-Star break. A switch-hitter, he hit
.321 with nine homers against lefties last season.