The Upper Deck

Welcome to The Upper Deck, Baseball America’s daily look at the biggest stories around the game and some lighter fare.

HOME AWAY FROM HOUSTON

Displaced by Hurricane Harvey, the Astros played host to the Rangers at their temporary home of Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Fla. In front of just 3,485 fans, the Astros lost 12-2 to their in-state rivals.

It’s just the fourth time a big league game has been relocated to a neutral site because of weather.

The game got so out of hand that third baseman J.D. Davis, who pitched for three seasons at Cal State Fullerton, pitched a scoreless inning, sitting at 91 mph with his fastball. He then hit a double in the bottom of the ninth.

MORE POSITION PLAYERS PITCHING

With the Mets also on the losing end of a lopsided score, they used catcher Kevin Plawecki to pitch the eighth inning against the Reds. Plawecki allowed two inherited runners to score, but induced a double play and was credited with a scoreless inning, lowering his ERA to 12.00. Plawecki also pitched on April 30 against the Nationals, allowing four runs in two innings in a 23-5 loss.

STANTON SMASH

Giancarlo Stanton tied Rudy York’s 80-year-old record for homers in August with his 18th Tuesday in an 8-3 loss to the Nationals. Stanton now has 51 homers and has hit 30 homers in his past 48 games.

HELPING HOUSTON

A request to our baseball community around the country. #HoustonStrong pic.twitter.com/Td4Veamyhr

— Todd Whitting (@toddwhitting) August 29, 2017

College coaches and players are trying to help victims of Hurricane Harvey pick up the pieces. Mike Lananna has the story of Todd Whitting’s efforts and how you can help.

SALE’S STRIKEOUTS

Chris Sale is as dominant as they come! #SaleDay pic.twitter.com/orJ4wIO2xM

— Red Sox (@RedSox) August 30, 2017

Red Sox ace Chris Sale fanned 11 Blue Jays on Tuesday, reaching 1,500 strikeouts in his career faster than anyone in big league history. The lefthander did it in 1,290 innings, bettering Kerry Wood, who struck out 1,500 in 1,303 innings.

MCCARTHY CLEANS HOUSE

Archbishop McCarthy, which finished as the No. 2 team in our high school rankings, “parted ways” with coach Rich Bielski and director of baseball operations Alex Fernandez, the Sun Sentinel reported. The newspaper reported that a cheating scandal—the Florida High School Athletic Association fined the school $16,000 and forced the school to vacate its 22 regular season wins for fielding three players who were found to be ineligible—was the reason why the school made the move.

WIN FOR WICHITA?

Could Wichita, Kan., get an affiliated minor league team soon? The city’s mayor says yes.

“By the end of this calendar year, we feel confident that we will be able to announce a team . . . ,” Mayor Jeff Longwell told The Wichita Eagle Tuesday. “We hope that we can complete all of those conversations by the end of this year and be able to announce a contract in place.”

There was no word which team would move, but Wichita has thrown its hat into the ring for a Double-A team before.

The team would relocate to Wichita to play in a new downtown ballpark, which would replace Lawrence-Dumont Stadium, the newspaper reported.