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In the bottom of the seventh, Altuve hit a solo shot into the Crawford Boxes on the first pitch of the at bat against Drew Smyly, making the game 7-2, Astros. In the top of the ninth, Altuve blasted a first-pitch, three-run homer off closer Liam Hendriks, making it 10-1. Altuve seems to love late-inning exclamation points, but this was among the sweetest, since it came as part of a barrage of runs after the Astros’ hitting was questioned by White Sox pitching staff. In the eighth inning of a series-deciding game, Altuve hit a solo homer off Emilio Pagán, putting the Astros up 6-1. HOUSTON — Jose Altuve got the last laugh as the Yankees collapsed in the ninth inning. The Astros second baseman hit a game-winning walkoff three-run homer off Chad Green in the bottom of the ninth as Houston rallied to beat the Yankees 8-7 Sunday.
The Yankees’ 2019 season ended in pure heartbreak Saturday night, but you might not have been able to tell from the way Aroldis Chapman exited the diamond. The attention paid to the scandal might lessen somewhat with the start of the regular season, when everybody will have more to talk about in MLB. On a 2-1 count, Chapman decided to throw a slider high and outside to Altuve. It’s understandable for Chapman to stay aggressive in that situation — even if he could have considered walking Altuve. But the 83-mph slider hung over the plate enough for Altuve to crush it.
Jose Altuve Delivers Postseason Moment Worthy of His Stature in Baseball
"It's incredible," said Astros starter Justin Verlander, who is lined up to start Game 2, likely against Washington's Stephen Strasburg. "I keep saying incredible, but it really is. The Nationals have a great rotation, have a great four starters. I like our rotation as well. It should be a great series." The Nationals likely will counter with Max Scherzer, making the Series opener the first of a series of high-profile pitching confrontations. "We're not done yet," Astros general manager Jeff Luhnow said. "This series could have gone either way. The last series could have gone either way. We knew we had built a team to win. Now we get a chance to prove it."
He covered high school and college sports, then shifted to the Jets beat. The lefthander also echoed some of his teammates from the 2017 team — CC Sabathia and Masahiro Tanaka most prominently — who have said they felt “cheated” out of a World Series. The home run ball bounced off the giant wall and back on to the field. He saw Houston bullpen catcher Javier Bracamonte walking past him toward the pile of Astros gathering at home plate. Chapman’s top priority to was to guard against the home run by pitching carefully around Springer and Altuve.
2019 ALCS Game 6 vs New York Yankees at Minute Maid Park
Coming off his second Tommy John surgery, Taillon got his ERA under 5.00 in his first 17 starts back with his outing Sunday. He’s struggled with command and consistency through the first half. Jose Altuve #27 of the Houston Astros hits a home run against the Boston Red Sox in the eighth inning of Game Four of the American League Championship Series at Fenway Park on October 19, 2021 in Boston, Massachusetts. Houston Astros second baseman Jose Altuve (#27) celebrates a home run in game 7 of the ALCS against the New York Yankees at Minute Maid Park in Houston. Jose Altuve #27 of the Houston Astros hits a home run in the fifth inning against the Tampa Bay Rays at Minute Maid Park on October 4, 2019 in Houston.
Tensions were high as the 2017 ALCS went back to Houston, with the Yankees taking a 3-2 series lead following three straight wins in New York. Altuve helped give the Astros some breathing room in Game 6, hitting a solo home run to lead off the bottom of the eighth, giving them a three-run lead. They piled on three more runs in the inning and walked away with a 7-1 win. There are as many reasons to love baseball as there are pitches in a season. One of the best of them, even if you are a New York Yankees fan who just watched him cut through your heart with one mighty swing, is Jose Altuve, the dynamo of a second baseman for the Houston Astros. Altuve blasted a two-run, walk-off home run with two outs in the bottom of the ninth off Yankees closer Aroldis Chapman, igniting a raucous crowd and sending Houston to the World Series for the third time in franchise history and second time in three years.
Yankees bring Bronx product home in free agency
While we wait for Tuesday night's Game 6, we’ve ranked all 23 of Altuve’s postseason home runs, which you can watch chronologically in the video below. Jose Altuve hit his 23rd career postseason home run on Saturday night, giving him more than any other player except Manny Ramírez, who has 29. Jose Altuve #27 of the Houston Astros reacts after hitting a solo home run during the seventh inning of game one of the American League Division Series against the Boston Red Sox on October 5, 2017 at Minute Maid Park in Houston. Jose Altuve #27 of the Houston Astros reacts after hitting a solo home run off of Chris Sale #41 of the Boston Red Sox during the fifth inning of game one of the American League Division Series on October 5, 2017 at Minute Maid Park in Houston. Altuve gave the Astros their first lead of the 2019 postseason, hitting a two-run shot off the Rays in the bottom of the fifth to put Houston up 2-0 in Game 1 of the ALDS.
We have arrived at a World Series that will take us back to the 1960s, with marquee starting pitchers going toe to toe to see who can stay in the game longer. Only once in the past 31 World Series games have both starters lasted seven innings. The game marked the first time in postseason history that a team hit a game-tying or go-ahead home run in the top of an inning, then allowed a game-ending homer in the bottom of the inning.
The Houston Astros veteran is closing in on Manny Ramirez's all-time MLB record.
In the bottom of the ninth, with 2 outs and the game tied at 4, Altuve blasted a 2-run homer off Aroldis Chapman’s 83 mph sinker to end the game and send the Astros to the 2019 World Series. Chapman had seemingly lost the zone entirely, walking Springer on five pitches in the previous at bat. With his fastball especially wild on his first two pitches to Altuve, he turned to his slider for a strike, making the count 2-1. Chapman’s look of complete disbelief and the roof being blown off Minute Maid Park as the crowd went bonkers makes this the most iconic of Altuve’s long list of postseason home runs.
"And yeah, if you look at his actions, they look a little suspicious. At the end of the day, I just don't know," Chapman said, according to ESPN's Buster Olney. I can't tell you if he had the sign or didn't have the sign–I don't know.
"It felt good, though. I'm just happy for Jose Altuve and he deserves all that. He got a little emotional after the game, and we all did. It was something special today." Down 7-2 heading to the ninth, the Astros posted their first win when trailing by five or more runs in the ninth inning since July 25, 1980 (and the first ended on a walk-off hit since July 24, 1978). "A lot of people are disappointed with the situation. That's why the commissioner did an investigation," Chapman told Olney. "Hopefully, they take the right actions. I just feel that they put baseball in a bad spot. A lot of people have suffered because of it, because of what they did, and what came out of it."
They return from the break Thursday with eight of their first 10 games against the Red Sox, who finished the first half having lost four of their last five. He is a Houston native and has previously worked at the Wyoming Tribune Eagle, Huntsville Item and iHeartMedia. He enjoys Australian Rules Football, LSU game days in Baton Rouge and being tortured by the DePaul men's basketball program.
Not just a highlight, but one of those Bobby Thomson/Hank Aaron/Chris Chambliss moments that get forever preserved in the game’s amber. HOUSTON – If you get it, in the way a poet hears the muse and a sculptor sees the form, you know how good baseball can be for the soul. Baseball can be our companion on a car radio on a summer evening, our place to dine al fresco with family as we wonder from the third deck how the umpire could possibly have missed that pitch, or simply ballast to our busy lives, always there when we need it. Boone already pointed to Thursday, when the Yankees open the second half with a four-game series against the first-place Red Sox in The Bronx that could determine whether they have a shot to get back into the AL East race. With the pennant secured, the Astros will open the World Series on Tuesday at home against the well-rested Washington Nationals.
Altuve helped his team get off to a strong start in this series, hitting a solo shot in the bottom of the fifth of Game 1 to put Houston up four fun in a 7-2 victory. At times it looked like the heavy catchers’ load of the postseason—navigating detailed scouting reports, multiple sets of signs, frequent pitching changes and sign-stealing paranoia—had a corrosive effect on his offensive game as well. He swung at more pitches out of the strike zone than any other hitter in the ALCS. In the bottom of the seventh, Altuve homered off Austin Maddox, a solo shot that cemented an 8-2 Astros win that began the team’s march to a championship trophy, and made Altuve the first Astro to hit three homers in a single postseason game.
2021 ALCS Game 1 vs. Red Sox (No.
Chapman should never have allowed Altuve even the chance to do so, but from the moment Altuve showed up at a second Astros camp all those years ago after being told at the first one to stay home because he was too small, all the man needs is a chance. They’ve had plenty of it this season, but had hoped to have put some of it behind them by rebounding after their last ugly defeat last Sunday, when Chapman blew a game against the Mets and the Yankees responded by winning five of six. The Astros ripped off Altuve’s jersey after he crossed the plate — a day after Aaron Judge mimicked Altuve’s move of telling his teammates to not touch his jersey following his walk-off homer that ended the 2019 ALCS against the Yankees.
Instead, it's Houston that might someday be remembered as the team of the decade that's coming to a close. For that to happen, the Astros need to take one more step, and they are well aware that they have unfinished business. The Astros capped their third straight 100-win season with another AL title, and in doing so, they ensured that the Yankees go without a pennant in the 2010s, marking their first decade without a league title since before they acquired Babe Ruth in 1920. Houston Astros Jose Altuve celebrates his two-run home run with Martin Maldonado during the seventh inning of Game 4 of the American League Division Series, at Dodger Stadium, Thursday, October 8, 2020, in Los Angeles.
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