Houston, we have walk- off
Correa’s blast gives Astros second straight victory, forces Game 6
SAN DIEGO — Carlos Correa homered with one out in the ninth inning, and the Astros beat the Rays 4- 3 on Thursday behind sensational pitching from five rookies to remain alive in the American League Championship Series.
Correa drove a fastball at the letters from Nick Anderson to straightaway center field, watched the ball for a few steps, then flung his bat. He was greeted at the plate by his ecstatic teammates. Correa is only 3- for- 18 in the series, but two of the hits are homers.
Houston won a second consecutive elimination game thanks in large part to starter Luis Garcia and four fellow rookies, who combined to hold the Rays to two runs and four hits through 6⅔ innings before manager Dusty Baker finally turned to a veteran, Josh James. Ryan Pressly, the seventh Astros pitcher, got the victory. The Astros pulled to 3- 2 and forced Game 6 on Friday.
In the ALCS for a fourth consecutive year, the Astros are trying to join the 2004 Red Sox as the only teams to come back from a 3- 0 deficit in a best- of- seven series. The Red Sox beat the Yankees in the ALCS and went on to win their first World Series in 86 seasons.
Otherwise, big- league clubs leading 3- 0 in a best- of- seven postseason series are 37- 1.
The Astros became the first team to hit a leadoff and walk- off home run in a postseason game.
“We had a meeting after we lost that third game,’’ Correa said. ‘‘ We said, ‘ Hey, we’re not ready to go home, so we’ve got to do something about it.’ But we’ve still got a long way to go.”
Baker said Correa called the walk- off.
“Boy, that will go down as one of greatest games in history and hopefully go down as one of greatest comebacks in history after two more games,” said Baker, 71. “That’s as big a game as I’ve been involved in. That’s one of the reasons that I came back.”
George Springer homered on John Curtiss’ first pitch, and Michael Brantley broke a tie with a two- run single.
“You go from feeling pretty good about our chances to knowing the game was over a short time after that,” Rays outfielder Kevin Kiermaier said. “They played a little bit better than us today, and it came down to one swing.”
Tampa Bay’s Ji- Man Choi tied the game with a homer to deep right leading off the eighth.
Randy Arozarena continued his remarkable postseason by hitting his sixth homer in 12 games, and Brandon Lowe also went deep for the Rays.