Altuve’s clutch homer in ninth inning gives Astros 3-2 series lead
Jose Altuve thrives under pressure for the Houston Astros, able to stay calm in the biggest October moments even after another bench-clearing fracas against the Texas Rangers.
The defending World Series champions are one win from a third consecutive pennant after Altuve’s three-run homer in the ninth inning of a wild and testy 5-4 victory over their instate division rival Friday gave the visiting Astros a 3-2 lead in the AL Championship Series.
“He’s got a high concentration level because that’s what it takes in big moments like that … is concentration, desire and relaxation all encompassed into one. And everybody can’t do all three of those things,” Houston manager Dusty Baker said. “This dude is one of the baddest dudes I’ve ever seen, and I’ve seen some greats.”
Baker wasn’t in the dugout when Altuve hit his 26th career postseason homer, second in major league history behind Manny Ramirez (29). The skipper was ejected an inning earlier after the benches and bullpens cleared.
Rangers slugger Adolis García, who punctuated a go-ahead homer in the sixth with an empathic bat spike and a slow trot, became irate when Bryan Abreu hit him on the left arm with a 98 mph fastball. García immediately turned around and got in the face of catcher Martín Maldonado — the two also jawed nose-to-nose when García touched home plate after his grand slam in Houston on July 26.
While it didn’t appear any punches were thrown as the teams grabbed hold of each other near home plate, the game was delayed almost 12 minutes. García, Abreu
and Baker were all ejected.
Diamondbacks 6, Phillies 5:
Alek Thomas hit a tying, two-run homer in a three-run eighth inning, Gabriel Moreno followed with a go-ahead single and host Arizona stunned Philadelphia with a victory that tied the NL Championship Series at two games apiece.
Arizona trailed 5-2 before Orion Kerkering’s bases-loaded walk to Christian Walker with two outs in the seventh.
Lourdes Gurriel Jr. doubled leading off the eighth against Craig Kimbrel, who gave up Ketel Marte’s game-ending single in Game 3. Thomas, pinch hitting for Emmanuel Rivera with one out, sent a full-count fastball splashing into the right-center-field swimming pool to tie the score at 5 as a sellout crowd of 47,806 at Chase Field roared.
Marte singled with two outs, Corbin Carroll was hit by a pitch and José Alvarado relieved. Moreno laced a singled to left-center to drive in the go-ahead run for Arizona.
Kyle Schwarber, whose fourth-inning homer sparked Philadelphia’s comeback from a 2-0 deficit, doubled with two outs in the ninth off Paul Sewald, Arizona’s eighth pitcher. Sewald struck out Trea Turner for his fifth save of the postseason.
The Diamondbacks built a two-run lead against the defending NL champions on run-scoring singles by Rivera in the second and Moreno in the third.
Schwarber’s homer was his fourth of this postseason and the 19th of his postseason career, passing Reggie Jackson for the most among left-handed batters.