Astros display their old swagger as they trounce A’s 10-5 in opener.
Astros display offense, swagger of old by staggering A’s in opener
LOS ANGELES — Carlos Correa asked for the noise. Ballparks cannot provide it in a pandemic, but it arrived nonetheless. Outsiders, naysayers, anyone around baseball who does not want the villainous Astros anywhere near Arlington in late October chime in at will.
Houston’s pedestrian 60-game regular season allowed for an abundance of abuse, be it via social media or, at Dodger Stadium in September, a gathering of trash-can-banging Los Angeleans with nothing else to do. Josh Reddick wondered this week why more malice-filled fellows didn’t show up. After Houston’s wild card sweep of the Twins, Correa asked what the baseball world “is going to say now.”
Answers filled every crack and crevice of the Internet. The Astros delivered their counter Monday. They trounced the Oakland A’s10-5 to take Game1 of the American League Division Series at Dodger Stadium, beginning an attempt to reassert division supremacy.
“I love October baseball,” Correa said. “I want to be in there. I want to be in tough spots in decisive situations. I prepare myself every single day mentally for when that time comes. October baseball, the energy is just different.”
The Astros struck 16 hits, the most allowed by Oakland’s prolific pitching staff all season. Correa crushed two home runs. George Springer supplied a four-hit day. Jose Altuve’s two-run single in the sixth gave the team a lead it did not relinquish. Houston’s bullpen tossed five hitless innings of
relief.
Correa, Altuve and Springer each played his 53rd playoff game Monday. It looked so much like many that preceded it, a relentless carousel of crushing blows, excellent at-bats by the entire lineup and a tangible happiness that just wasn’t around for most of the last three months.
“We just slowed it down finally,” Springer said.“We really, really slowed the game down and understood this is the playoffs and you don’t know if you’re ever going to get back here or not, so you might as well enjoy it.”
Every starter reached base. Only two did not reach scoring position. An early three-run deficit did not matter. Past performance against the A’s meant little. Houston lost seven of 10 regular-season games against the A’s, stopping a streak of three consecutive American League West titles.
Monday’s winners appeared closer to those Astros teams, a swagger-filled group that captured a championship three years ago inside this ballpark and surged to superteam status with the largest payroll in franchise history. Where they’ve been for the past fourmonths matters not. The club is clicking at the most meaningful time.
“Seeing the guys the way that they had at-bats today was crazy impressive,” starter Lance McCullers Jr. said. “When you see our guys and they start to feel dangerous and look dangerous in that box, like they did today, is when you start to have a lot of confidence.”
Hope felt far away in the sixth. Two were out, and the Astros trailed 5-3. A’s manager Bob Melvin had already unleashed his terrifying bullpen. Houston faced A’s relievers for 28⅔ regular-season innings and scored two earned runs.
The A’s bullpen a woke Monday with baseball’s lowest earned run average and third-lowest batting average on balls in play. The Astros collected seven hits and scored seven times against it — and it began with a blunder. J.B. Wendelken worked a breezy sixth before Josh Reddick bounced a first-pitch sinker to shortstop Marcus Semien.
Even in their excruciating finish to the regular season, the Astros offense continued to put the baseball in play. They struck out less than any other major league lineup. Contact is this team’s friend, even if it never resulted in much during the regular season. It puts all of the pressure on an opponent, none of which can match the Astros in postseason experience.
“You have to get in the postseason, you have to know how to win these baseball games, and we’ve been there and been able to accomplish that,” McCullers said.
Semien did not field the baseball. He finished third in American League MVP voting last season. Either he or the injured Matt Chapman is the A’s best player. He was no match for the moment. Misery ensued.
Wendelken yielded a single to Martín Maldonado on his next pitch. Houston’s lineup turned over when it had no reason to.
“I just liked the way that all of us fought,” Springer said. “We passed the baton on to the next guy, had three or four quality atbats in a row. (Wendelken’s) been phenomenal all year and extremely tough to hit. For us to string together three, four, five good at-bats in a row, itwas good.”
Springer struck a full-count curveball down the third-base line for a double. One run scored to make it 5-4, and Altuve arrived, still amid the worst season of his major league career. His OPS barely stood above .600. His power was gone and, with it, the joy with which he always plays the game.
Manager Dusty Baker maintained faith in the diminutive infielder. Altuve’s time would come, Baker claimed, ignoring some thoughts to drop the sixtime All Star in the batting order. He made outs in two prior at-bats with runners aboard. Here he stood in the sixth with another chance.
Wendelken fell behind in the count 2-1. He spun a slider that sat near Altuve’s eyes. In an image cut from the last three years, Altuve whacked it to left field, where it dropped at Robbie Grossman’s feet. Maldonado and Springer scored. Altuve ambled into second base, kissed his fists and pointed to the steamy sky.
“He’s our leader. He can do special things as well, and that’s who he is,” Springer said. “Huge hit there to take the lead. He’s been positive all year, he’s been upbeat, and everyone here believes in him.”
Afternoon temperatures in the low 90s turned Dodger Stadium into a launching pad. Any ball struck well had a chance to leave the ballpark. The teams totaled five home runs in the first four innings. Neither club struck more than 71 home runs during the regular season. The league average was 77.
Correa had just five in 58 regular-season games. Questions about the absence of power hung over his entire year.
During the team’s last regularseason series at Texas, Correa and hitting coach Alex Cintron studied video of Correa’s swings from his Rookie of the Year season in 2015. They discovered hands out of position and a body placement all wrong. Baker gave Correa one of the days off to work with Cintron in the batting cages.
“Everything started to click slowly,” said Correa. “Then the last game in Texas, I hit a homer, and it felt right.”
Correa has now hit three mammoth home runs in three postseason games. Both of Monday’s landed in dead center field. After each, as he rounded third base, he looked toward the opposing dugout, cupped his hand to his ear and invited any more noise.
“All we can control is what happens inside this clubhouse,” Correa said. “We’re having fun. We’re having a great time. We’re playing great baseball right now, and we want to keep it that way. We love each other in this clubhouse. We’ve got each other’s back.”