Astros headed home, return to Minute Maid Park Saturday

The Houston Astros are headed home.

The club announced that it will play a double-header with the New York Mets beginning at 1:10 p.m. Saturday at Minute Maid Park. The second game is scheduled for 7:10 p.m. They’ll finish the series with Game 3 at 1:10 p.m. Sunday.

The Astros were forced to play their home series against the Texas Rangers at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Fla., this week after massive flooding left much of Houston under water.

“We feel that the Astros playing this weekend will provide a much-needed boost to out city,” Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner said in a release.

The Astros are donating 5,000 tickets for each game to first responders. Also, 10,000 Carlos Correa Astros jerseys that were to be given away as a promotional item during Saturday’s game will be donated to evacuees at the George R. Brown Convention Center. The Rangers organization pledged a $1 million donation to relief efforts on Tuesday.

The Astros played a three-game series against the Angels this past weekend as Hurricane Harvey hit South Texas. They were forced to fly into Dallas Sunday night because both Houston airports were closed by the storm. The Rangers, Astros and major league baseball agreed to move the three-game series this week from Minute Maid Park to Tropicana Field when it was clear Houston was not an option.

This story was originally published August 30, 2017 at 2:48 PM with the headline "Astros headed home, return to Minute Maid Park Saturday."