Watch: Jose Altuve delivers another clutch home run
With the Houston Astros down 4-2 in the ninth inning, Jose Altuve did it again.
Following a single by Yainer Diaz and a walk to pinch-hitter Jon Singleton, Altuve blasted the 26th postseason home run of his career to give Houston a 5-4 lead. He took a Jose Leclerq changeup and sent it over the left field wall – and just past the glove of leaping left fielder Evan Carter.
In the closest game of the American League Championship Series so far, Altuve’s shot provided only the second lead change of the series. The first came when Adolis Garcia hit his own three-run homer for the Texas Rangers in the sixth inning.
Altuve did the same thing to the New York Yankees in 2019, hitting a two-run homer in the ninth to win Game 6 of the ALCS and send Houston to the World Series.
This homer only gave Houston the Game 5 lead, but after the Rangers couldn’t score in their own two-on, no-out situation in the bottom of the ninth, the Astros took a 3-2 lead in the series.
The unsung hero was Ryan Pressly, who also inherited a two-on, no-out jam in the eighth and escaped with the help of a pair of strikeouts.
The series continues in Houston with Game 6 on Sunday. Meanwhile, Altuve continues an incredible postseason career.
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