The Houston Astros are on the verge of reaching the World Series, again, because of Jose Altuve.
Altuve clubbed a three-run homer off Texas Rangers reliever Jose Leclerc in the top of the ninth inning, and after barely holding a lead through the bottom of the ninth, Houston -- which had lost the first two games of the American League Championship Series -- completed a sweep of three games here Friday night.
Houston needs only to win Game 6 or Game 7 to capture the best-of-seven series and advance to the World Series for the fifth time in the past seven seasons.
"That's one of the craziest games I ever played in," Altuve said on the field after the game, and he wasn't exaggerating. In the last three innings were two lead-changing homers, three ejections (one including Houston manager Dusty Baker), a brief delay as Baker refused to leave the Astros dugout, and a leaping catch in the bottom of the ninth inning by a fielder making his first-ever appearance on defense in a postseason game.
In a stunning final four innings that saw two massive swings of the bat, three lead changes and a benches-clearing brouhaha all while the upper hand in this ALCS found a balance, Jose Altuve had the last word. His three-run home run to left field off Rangers closer Jose Leclerc in the top of the ninth gave the Astros a 5-4 victory in Game 5, bringing their season off life support and back, once again, on the doorstep to the World Series.
It was Altuve’s 26th career home run, second-most in major league playoff history, and it ranks among the most memorable.
For the Rangers, it was another sordid chapter in a postseason history that ultimately ends with them snake-bitten.
Tensions boiled over an inning earlier, but the heat really began in the bottom of the sixth, when Rangers slugger Adolis García hit a three-run homer to put Texas up 4–2. He celebrated with a powerful spike of the bat that wound up setting the stage for the chaos that ensued with his at-bat two innings later.
That was all that was needed to bail out Ryan Pressly, who coaxed Seager into a fly out before striking out rooking Carter, and with that, the Astros collectively exhaled, tumbling out of the dugout. Near second base, Altuve embraced Kessinger, and as all of the Astros came off the field, there was Baker waiting to greet them, hatless, all of them one step closer to becoming the first team to win back-to-back championships since the 1998-2000 Yankees.
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