Astros move closer, beat Angels in 12; Ohtani out at plate

ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — Houston manager Dusty Baker says a huge source of pride about his AL West-leading team is the way it plays defense. It showed Wednesday night as right fielder Chas McCormick made two huge plays in the Astros' 9-5 victory over the Los Angeles Angels in 12 innings.

McCormick made a one-hop throw to prevent Shohei Ohtani from scoring the potential game-winning run in the 10th inning. Two innings later, the Astros broke through with four runs, including a two-run double by Jose Altuve, to reduce their magic number to three for clinching their fourth division title in five seasons.

“He has been working on his throwing and grip. He made a great play in the outfield,” said Baker of McCormick. “Defense doesn’t win you many games but it can lose you games. That was a big one to win.”

Ohtani, who was 0 for 2 and walked four times, made an ill-advised run home on David Fletcher’s bases-loaded lineout to shallow right. McCormick caught Ohtani by several steps with a one-hop throw — the two-way star didn’t slide, tried to avoid the tag and ran past the plate, and easily was tagged out by catcher Jason Castro.

“I wasn’t surprised. I know he can run a little bit and was doing everything to win. I'm happy I made a good throw on it,” said McCormick, who prevented an RBI single by Jack Mayfield with a diving catch in the third. “It wasn’t that tough of a play. The one on Mayfield was one of my better plays, but the biggest play was throwing out Ohtani.”

Angels manager Joe Maddon didn't have any problems with sending Ohtani.

“I know it wasn’t that deep but we have challenged it in the past,” Maddon said. “They played great defense on us. We had opportunities to end it and they wore us down.”

Pinch-runner Marwin Gonzalez scored the go-ahead run on Jake Meyers'...

source https://www.chron.com/sports/article/Astros-move-closer-beat-Angels-in-12-Ohtani-out-16480990.php