HOUSTON -- Astros manager AJ Hinch and Dodgers manager Dave Roberts are close friends, so when Washington hit a go-ahead grand slam in the 10th inning on Wednesday night to beat Los Angeles in Game 5 of the National League Division Series, Hinch reached out to him via text.
“There’s 30 of these jobs, and it was such an emotional night for everyone,” Hinch said. “On the one hand, you want to congratulate those that win. And on the other hand, you feel for what managers are going through when they lose. And certainly friendships are above all that.”
Roberts showed his class when he came over to the visiting clubhouse to congratulate Hinch in person after the Astros beat the Dodgers in Game 7 of the 2017 World Series. Los Angeles lost the World Series last year to Boston, after the Red Sox had defeated the Astros in the American League Division Series.
The Cardinals’ Game 5 victory over the Braves on Wednesday also came with some emotion for Hinch, who was watching the early parts of the game with hitting coach Troy Snitker, whose father, Brian, is Atlanta's manager. St. Louis scored 10 runs in the first inning to put the game away.
“The TV does a good job of showing him 10 times in a 10-run inning, and you feel for him, too,” Hinch said.
Astros reach out to McCann
Wednesday’s postgame retirement of Braves veteran catch Brian McCann made waves in the Astros' clubhouse. McCann caught almost every inning during Houston's postseason run to the World Series in 2017, and he was on the field when Charlie Morton recorded the final out at Dodger Stadium.
McCann, who spent the 2017-18 seasons with the Astros before returning to the Braves to end his career, announced his retirement following Atlanta's loss to St. Louis in the NLDS.
“He’s such a pro and he’s so influential,” Hinch said. “I’ll forever remember the dialogue he and I had during Game 7 of the World Series and the feedback and togetherness you felt. Watching the outpouring of feedback about him and players talking about him showed the amount of respect that he deserves. I’m very lucky that I was able to manage him for the time I did and we got to share the most special moment of both our careers: being a champion together.”
Outfielder Josh Reddick, who signed with the Astros shortly after they acquired McCann in a trade with the Yankees, grew up in Georgia as a Braves fan and remembers watching McCann’s early days with Atlanta while Reddick was still in college.
“As soon as I read it through social media [about McCann’s retirement], I immediately pulled out my phone and made sure I sent him a congratulations text,” Reddick said. “It was just so cool when we got him in '17 to be able to get his [phone] number, just get to know him and become friends with him, be his teammate and learn so much from him. It's kind of cool in retrospect how things pan out for you as an individual going from a college kid watching this guy and then being his teammate later on in life and winning the World Series and being so close to him.”
Reddick said he was grousing to teammate Joe Smith on Thursday about how McCann hadn’t texted him back yet when Reddick’s phone buzzed with a message of thanks from McCann.
“Very honored to play with him,” Reddick said. “I wish him nothing but the best in his future endeavors. He gets to play with those kids, and I just learned that that's pretty special, too.”
Astros searching for moment
After their offense was shut down by the Rays in Games 3-4 in St. Petersburg, the Astros’ search for silver linings took them to the ninth inning of Game 4. Houston rallied to put the tying run at the plate on a walk to José Altuve and a single by Alex Bregman. Even two of the outs were hit hard -- Michael Brantley flied out to center and Yuli Gurriel grounded out to end the game.
“These are some of the best hitters in the league. They're going to have good at-bats at the biggest moments,” Hinch said. “And everybody was on their feet at the Trop whenever [Yordan] Alvarez was facing [Blake] Snell. Those are game-deciding at-bats, and the quality of those at-bats I was really impressed with.
“Momentum-wise, I don't know that a day off, you move venues, this isn't that much of a momentum approach for us. We're going to face a completely different guy today. I like the fact that we gave ourselves a chance to tie that game up or potentially continue on in that game with two at-bats: One was the Alvarez at-bat against Snell and Yuli's missile up the middle that they played their defense in the right position.”