The Houston Astros returned to their home baseball field on Saturday for the first time since Hurricane Harvey dumped record floodwaters on the city, providing a welcome diversion for fans from the devastation.
Houston mayor Sylvester Turner threw out the ceremonial first pitch as the Astros swept the New York Mets in a Major League double-header, 12-8 and 4-1.
Saturday's games came a week after one of the most costly storms ever in the United States swept through Texas, killing at least 47 people and displacing more than a million.
The Astros were on the road when Harvey made landfall on August 25.
Outfielder George Springer said being away weighed on the team. It was his second-inning home run in the first game that gave the Astros a 6-0 lead. He punched his fist to his chest as he scored in a gesture to flood victims.
"This is a thing that's been on my mind since it started," Springer said. "It's very hard to go out there and play a game and not think about everybody out there that's trapped, everybody here that's trying their best to help somebody that they don't know."
Athletes have helped cities rebound from catastrophe, such as when the Mets played the first baseball game in their damaged city 10 days after the attacks of September 11, 2001, or when the New Orleans Saints returned to the Superdome in 2006 for NFL after Hurricane Katrina.
The Astros, who have the best record in the American League, have already played a role in helping the city recover, pledging at least $US4 million through their foundation. On Friday players visited evacuees housed in emergency accommodation.
