Astros (11 XBH) pile on: 'It was a fun time'

HOUSTON -- The Astros’ offense has been feast or famine this year, but when they feast they don’t leave any scraps on the table.

The Astros erupted for their biggest offensive output of the season in a 16-2 win over the Angels on Saturday afternoon at Minute Maid Park, setting season highs in runs, hits (18) and extra-base hits (11) to win their third game in a row and get back to .500 at 10-10.

• Box score

Every Astros starter had at least one hit with the exception of Robel Garcia, who hit a walk-off single in the 10th inning Friday. The outburst came at a great time for the Astros, who saw starting pitcher Jake Odorizzi leave the game after one out with tightness in his forearm. Kent Emanuel threw 8 2/3 innings in relief in his Major League debut to save the day for Houston.

“I hope that this is the beginning of an explosion for us in the upcoming days,” said first baseman Yuli Gurriel, who went 2-for-4 with two RBIs. “Everyone knows that we’ve been struggling here lately, but I hope this is the beginning of some good things.”

The Astros began the season 6-1 and were averaging 7.3 runs per game, slashing .289/.358/.534 with a club-record 15 homers in that span. They followed that with nine losses in 10 games in which they scored 26 runs (2.6 per game) and slashed .207/.273/.296 with only five home runs. In their three straight wins against the Angels, the Astros have scored 29 runs and are slashing .336/.391/.578.

“I don’t worry about feast or famine,” Astros manager Dusty Baker said. “You’ve got to feast on it when you get it. You want consistency, but you’ve got to be happy where you are. I’m glad we got back to .500. We’re here again and will try to put some distance from it.”

The Astros scored three runs in the first, third and fifth innings and had four runs in the fourth to build a 13-2 lead through five innings. They are hitting .412 (14-for-34) with runners in scoring position in the first three games of the series while outscoring the Angels 29-8.

“It was beautiful,” center fielder Myles Straw said. “It was a fun time. I think everybody had fun today. We’d like to do that every day if we could. That’s a big day there and we want to keep rolling with that and bring it tomorrow and the next day and the next day.”

Here were the offensive heroes from a big day at Minute Maid Park:

• Third baseman Alex Bregman went 2-for-3 with a three-run homer – his first homer since April 2 – and four runs scored to extend his hitting streak against the Angels to nine games. He’s batting .571 (8-for-14) with six RBIs in his last four games to raise his season average to .340.

• Shortstop Carlos Correa went 3-for-6 with two runs scored, including his first career leadoff homer. He’s hitting .333 (5-for-15) in three games since moving to the leadoff spot in the batting order on Thursday.

• Designated hitter Yordan Alvarez went 2-for-4 with his first career triple, which cleared the bases in the fifth inning, and a season-high four RBIs. He’s hitting .364 (4-for-11) with a double, triple and four RBIs during the series against the Angels.

• Left fielder Michael Brantley went 3-for-3 with three doubles, a walk and four runs scored. His nine doubles lead the Major Leagues. Brantley is hitting .474 with a .524 on-base percentage in his last five games.