HOUSTON _ As a large Texas flag stretched across the outfield grass at Minute Maid Park on Saturday afternoon, the crowd started clapping.
The scoreboard in right field then flashed HoustonStrong before displaying a montage of tweets centered around how the community has responded since Hurricane Harvey. The crowd of 30,319 cheered as donations and other forms of support were shown.
Several minutes later, Astros manager A.J. Hinch addressed the crowd.
"Hello, Houston," Hinch said. "It's good to be home."
As the city deals with the devastation from Hurricane Harvey, baseball returned to Houston on Saturday and the Astros swept the Mets in a doubleheader. Both games drew more than 30,000 fans, with the nightcap bringing in a larger crowd.
Matt Harvey (4-4) struggled in his return from the disabled list as he allowed seven runs in two innings in a 12-8 loss in the matinee tilt while Seth Lugo (5-4) allowed four runs in the sixth inning in the 4-1 loss in the nightcap. The Mets (58-77) have lost three straight.
Infielder Wilmer Flores was also taken to the hospital during the second game after fouling a pitch into his face. Flores was bleeding as he exited the field.
"If we can bring a distraction to what the town is going through, certainly we're up for it," Mets manager Terry Collins said. "We've been through it before in our city and we know what the feeling is like. Tough atmosphere to play in when you're a visitor."
There was debate as to whether these games should be played in Houston so soon after the hurricane, but city and Astros officials believed it was important for the Astros to host these games this weekend in an attempt to help this reeling community. Just minutes down the road, thousands of people are living out of the George R. Brown Convention Center after losing their houses, vehicles and loved ones.
The Mets arrived to Houston on Thursday, and volunteered Friday afternoon. Travis d'Arnaud and Brandon Nimmo were among a group of players who helped at First Baptist Church in Pasadena, Texas, while another group of players and coaches met with first responders. Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner thanked the Mets in a tweet.
The group at First Baptist Church helped hand out supplies and toiletries.
"It was great to be there. We were only able to make a little dent, but that's what we felt like we could do," Nimmo said. "Pick things up, put them down, that's what we're good at, so we tried to help out in the littlest way we could and knew how to. There's so much more to do, but when everybody puts their little pieces together, it helps out more."
Hinch thanked the Mets during his speech for agreeing to a doubleheader that allowed both teams to use Friday to try to help in any way possible.
"Not only did they give us a day off, they were out in the communities doing things for a city they rarely come to," Hinch said. "We're forever grateful."
The crowd that came to Minute Maid Park for the first game watched an Astros offensive explosion, and it came at Harvey's expense. Harvey produced perhaps the worst stat of his career while failing to record an out in the third inning for the first time in 96 starts.
Turner threw out the ceremonial first pitch while donning an orange Astros jersey.
"You saw the excitement. It looked like they had some motivation, and that's what it felt like out there," said Flores, who hit a grand slam in the first game. "Start of the game, I talked to (Jose) Altuve and (Marwin) Gonzalez and they said it was emotional and they wanted to give them something to cheer about."
Harvey's pitches were flat and had little to no movement Saturday as he returned to the Mets, and his fastball sat at 91-94 mph. The righty had been sidelined since June with a stress injury to his right shoulder, and has insisted he feels healthy now.
The righty allowed four runs in the first inning, and three more in the second to put the Mets in a 7-0 hole. George Springer hit a two-run homer in the second.
Harvey said his mechanics were poor as he relied too much on his legs to fall toward home plate, and is confident he will enjoy success soon. He now owns a 5.79 ERA.
"I am fully confident within the next start or the start after that or whatever it is by the end of this season, I'll be comfortable on the mound and throwing to hitters," Harvey said. "There is not one doubt in my mind that with health, mechanics will come and so will success. I've been there before, where I've come back from Tommy John healthy and effectively, and there is no doubt by the end of this season I will do the same."
He added: "I don't feel like I am far away at all.
In the nightcap, Lugo cruised through five innings before allowing the first four to reach in the sixth while nursing a 1-0 lead. All four eventually scored.
The Astros announced a combined crowd of 65,223 for the two games, and the team donated 5,000 tickets to first responders, volunteers and evacuees.
