Rookie Peña’s potent bat continues to carry Houston
PHILADELPHIA — The Astros seem to have another playoff star in rookie shortstop Jeremy Peña.
The 25-year-old sparked their 3-2 win over the Phillies in Game 5 of the World Series on Thursday night at Citizens Bank Park, to take a 3-2 series lead, by driving in their first two runs and setting up the third, as he again made sure Houston didn’t miss the star he replaced, Carlos Correa.
“I never saw it as having to fill his shoes,’’ Peña said of Correa, who left for Minnesota as a free agent after last season and is set to hit the market again.
“I just had to come in and be myself, play my game,’’ Peña said. “But at the end of the season, once we accomplish our goal, which is to go all the way, then I’ll sit down and reflect on the journey. But there’s still work to do and we got to lock in.’’
Peña’s postseason résumé, which was bolstered by his three-run home run off Nestor Cortes in The Bronx that got the Astros back into Game 4 of the ALCS, looks even better now.
He singled in Jose Altuve in the first inning off Noah Syndergaard and then ended Syndergaard’s night with a leadoff, go-ahead homer in the fourth.
It was Peña’s fourth home run of the postseason and he’s got at least one hit in 11 of his 12 playoff games. ➤ Yuli Gurriel left Thursday’s game with right knee discomfort after injuring the knee on a rundown in the seventh. He was slow to get up after Rhys Hoskins ran into him while applying the tag. Gurriel stayed in the game at first base for the bottom of the seventh, but was replaced by pinch-hitter Trey Mancini in the eighth.
Mancini then made a potential game-saving play by smothering Kyle Schwarber’s hard grounder down the line with runners on the corners and Houston up by a run to end the eighth inning.
Baker said Gurriel was day-to-day. ➤ The Phillies will turn to another ex-Met, Zack Wheeler, in Game 6, as Wheeler was pushed back due to arm fatigue and a drop in velocity.
J.T. Realmuto said he thought the extra day would serve Wheeler well.
“I think the numbers kind of speak for themselves with how well he’s pitched, not just this season, but his entire career with that extra day,’’ Realmuto said.
Realmuto is right, to a point. The added day due to Friday’s travel day will give Wheeler six days of rest. In five starts in those situations this season, he has a 1.67 ERA and 0.630 WHIP in 27 innings.