Astros back to their winning ways, beat Angels to start important AL clash

The question was, which Houston Astros team would we see this week, as they hosted the wild-card hopeful Los Angeles Angels: The Astros that were the surprise first-place team of the AL West most of the season? Or the Astros that had gone 2-8 on a rough early September roadtrip and let the Texas Rangers leapfrog them in the standings?

For the sake of everybody in Houston, we saw those first Astros on Monday night in the series opener. The Astros, powered by their Rookie of the Year candidate and their Cy Young candidate, beat the Angels 6-3. It was their third win in a row and a sign that Houston could be back to its winning ways.

The Astros got another nice outing from ace Dallas Keuchel, who improved to 18-8 by tossing 7.2 innings of one-run ball. He scattered six hits and struck out six. The big-swinging Astros got homers from Evan Gattis and Carlos Correa, their impressive rookie shortstop, who was 3-for-4 with three RBIs on the eve of his 21st birthday.

Astros skipper A.J. Hinch wasn’t shouting, “We’re back” from the top of Minute Maid Park, but he was at least acknowledging his team’s improved fortunes.