Hit finally comes for Altuve
WASHINGTON —
George Springer celebrated wildly, as if this base hit determined a September ballgame with postseason implications. He called for the baseball while Jose Altuve glided into first base to greet Rich Dauer.
At long last, Altuve had solved his All-Star Game struggles.
Altuve lined a firstpitch single against Aaron Nola in the fifth inning of Tuesday night’s Midsummer Classic at Nationals Park, affording the reigning American League MVP another career milestone — his first hit in six All-Star Game appearances.
“It felt weird,” Altuve said. “It felt like I got my first big league hit or something like that.”
Altuve was the first Astro to hit safely in an All-Star Game since
Hunter Pence singled in the 2011 contest in Phoenix. But he wouldn’t be the last. Alex Bregman and Springer hit home runs that highlighted a threerun 10th inning that propelled the AL to an 8-6 victory. The homer was one of two hits for Springer.
Hitless in his first two at-bats, Altuve snapped a somewhat remarkable 0-for-10 skid in vintage fashion — hacking on a first-pitch fastball Nola left at the belt and dunking it into short right field. Before he signaled to Springer in the dugout, Altuve shared a fistpump with Dauer — the former Astros first-base coach whom A.J. Hinch summoned out of retirement for this game.
Dauer, 65, nearly died after suffering a brain hemorrhage during the November World Series parade in Houston.
“It means a lot for us to have him here,” Altuve said. “He’s been kind of like a mentor for me when he was with the Astros. I didn’t think about it, but that’s good that I got my first hit when he was on first.”