HOUSTON -- On a night the Astros' vaunted offense was all but shut down, a homer by catcher Brian McCann in the third inning of Thursday's 3-1 loss to the White Sox at Minute Maid Park was a reminder of Houston's lineup mix of balance and power.
McCann became the eighth Astros player to reach at least 15 homers this season -- a franchise record -- when he took reliever Chris Volstad deep in the third inning for the Astros' final hit of the game. It was No. 260 of McCann's career, and first in the No. 9 spot in the order.
McCann joined Jose Altuve (24), Alex Bregman (16), Carlos Correa (21), Marwin Gonzalez (22), Yuli Gurriel (17), Jake Marisnick (16) and George Springer (32) in reaching at least 15 homers.
"Everybody's been saying it all year, really," said McCann, who hit his 247th career dinger as a catcher, which surpassed Jorge Posada for eighth on the all-time list. "The top of the order can get you, the bottom of the order can get you. There's no breaks and our bench is strong. We've just got an all-around great team."
The Astros lead the Majors in runs scored, but don't have anyone in the top 15 in homers or RBIs because the production has been so spread out. Gonzalez leads the club with 82 RBIs.
The Astros also have nine players with at least 50 RBIs -- Altuve, Bregman, Correa, Gonzalez, Gurriel, McCann, Springer, Carlos Beltran and Josh Reddick. Beltran (14 homers) and Reddick (13) also have a shot to join the 15-homer club.
It was McCann's second home run since July 26.
"It's been a while, but I saw what, six or seven pitches [while observing] the at-bat before and I was able to back up there and I saw everything he had," McCann said. "I jumped on a fastball. It felt good."
The Rangers lead the Majors with nine players with at least 15 homers.