Jose Altuve hits walk-off home run against Yankees

Table of Content

• No doubter: Altuve wins MVP after walk-off blast3y
• Jose Altuve's homer lifts Astros past Yankees to win AL pennant
• 2020 ALCS Game 3 vs Tampa Bay at Petco Park
• The 9 best remaining MLB free agents left in the 2022-23 offseason
• 2021 ALDS Game 4 vs Chicago White Sox at Guaranteed Rate Field
• 2020 ALCS Game 4 vs Tampa Bay at Petco Park
• Games

The pregame whistles and train toots and towel waves had barely subsided when, after a snappy first inning for Houston opener Brad Peacock, Yuli Gurriel lined a three-run homer into the Crawford Boxes in left field. In the bottom of the fifth, Altuve got to staff ace Tyler Glasnow for a two-run homer, providing the first runs of the game, and kick-starting the offense for an eventual 6-2 victory. In the bottom of the seventh, Altuve took Jake Diekman deep for a solo homer that gave the Astros an 11-4 lead and put an emphatic end to a series they dominated.

Just when it seemed like the momentum of American League Championship Series Game 6 had entirely swung back in New York’s favor, the Houston Astros punched their ticket to the World Series in thrilling fashion. Jose Altuve walloped a two-out, walk-off home run in the bottom of the ninth inning off Chapman, sending Minute Maid Park into a frenzy and leaving the visitors with a bad taste in their mouths. The emotions from Altuve were taken to another level when he was informed minutes after the game ended that his father had been taken to a Houston hospital. There was no word on the seriousness of his condition, but before he got the news, Altuve spoke about his belief in his team.

No doubter: Altuve wins MVP after walk-off blast3y

The home run was the second of back-to-back homers from Altuve and Alex Bregman. Houston Astros second baseman Jose Altuve comes back out of the dugout to celebrate his third solo home run of the game during the seventh inning of Game 1 of the ALDS at Minute Maid Park on Thursday, Oct. 5, 2017, in Houston. Altuve hit home runs in the first, fifth and seventh innings to become just the 10th player to hit three post season home runs in one game. In the top of the first, Altuve tagged former Astro Charlie Morton for a solo homer that put the Astros on the board early, but the team eventually lost the game 10-3. Houston Astros second baseman Jose Altuve steps on home plate after hitting a solo home run to give the Astros a 2-0 lead during the fourth inning of Game 4 of the World Series on Saturday, Oct. 30, 2021 at Truist Park in Atlanta. He allowed two runs on solo home runs to Martin Maldonado and Kyle Tucker.

Chapman noted José Altuve's celebration after winning the ALCS over New York was, "a little suspicious." The speculation, of course, is that Altuve was wearing a wire of some kind that allowed him to get the signs in real time. Altuve’s actions afterward lent credence to that speculation; as he reached home plate, he instructed his celebrating teammates not to tear at his jersey and even clutched at it.

Jose Altuve's homer lifts Astros past Yankees to win AL pennant

Altuve had an answer of his own in the bottom half of the inning, blasting a three-run home run off Kenta Maeda to even the score. There might be more impactful individual home runs on Altuve's résumé, but it's tough to ignore the significance of his first postseason long ball. In addition to being a part of a three-home run performance, it kickstarted a postseason in which he hit seven home runs—which is tied for the sixth-most in MLB history. Heading into the 2022 ALCS, Altuve ranks second all-time with 23 postseason home runs (and tops in first-inning playoff blasts). He trails only Manny Ramirez, who hit a record 29 bombs in his playoff career. After the Astros won in 2017, they actually won more games in 2018, but were bounced from the playoffs by Boston largely because Altuve and Correa were playing hurt.

He covered high school and college sports, then shifted to the Jets beat. The lefthander also echoed some of his teammates from the 2017 team — CC Sabathia and Masahiro Tanaka most prominently — who have said they felt “cheated” out of a World Series. The home run ball bounced off the giant wall and back on to the field. He saw Houston bullpen catcher Javier Bracamonte walking past him toward the pile of Astros gathering at home plate. Chapman’s top priority to was to guard against the home run by pitching carefully around Springer and Altuve.

2020 ALCS Game 3 vs Tampa Bay at Petco Park

Altuve carried his bat about halfway down the first base line before tossing it aside, a rare show of swagger for the usually deferential infielder. Altuve, who previously was deadlocked with Bernie Williams at 22, is the beating orange heart of the Astros’ organization and a postseason juggernaut. He can lean out over the plate to pull a pitch on the outside corner or turn on a ball inside and send it soaring down the left-field line.

Even when the Houston Astros were a historically bad baseball team early in his career, Jose Altuve served as a rare bright spot for a franchise that had nothing but the future to look forward to. Now, 12 years into his career, Altuve is among the most prolific playoff performers in MLB history for an annual World Series contender. After all, it was Altuve' three-run, go-ahead homer in the eighth inning on May 6 -- also off Chad Green -- at Yankee Stadium that avoided a sweep and sparked the Astros to a surge into the All-Star break. Maldonado, who pulled down his jersey before touching home following his second-inning homer Sunday in response to Judge, said it was the best game of the regular season to date.

The 9 best remaining MLB free agents left in the 2022-23 offseason

Those who have played with him admire him as much as any player they've met, and they had no doubt he was going to come through again in the clutch. "Everybody thought we were going to lose this game, except for us," he told reporter Julia Morales of AT&T SportsNet. "We kept grinding and kept battling every time and we made it happen."

The Astros went on to win in 10 innings on a walk-off single by Alex Bregman, and they would clinch the franchise's first World Series a few days later in Los Angeles. Jose Altuve #27 of the Houston Astros celebrates with Alex Bregman #2 after hitting a three-run home run in the fifth inning of Game 5 of the 2017 World Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers at Minute Maid Park on October 29, 2017 in Houston. The Astros found themselves trailing the Red Sox 3-1 entering the bottom of the sixth in Game 1 of the ALCS, but Altuve changed that outlook with one swing of the bat.

Tensions were high as the 2017 ALCS went back to Houston, with the Yankees taking a 3-2 series lead following three straight wins in New York. Altuve helped give the Astros some breathing room in Game 6, hitting a solo home run to lead off the bottom of the eighth, giving them a three-run lead. They piled on three more runs in the inning and walked away with a 7-1 win. There are as many reasons to love baseball as there are pitches in a season. One of the best of them, even if you are a New York Yankees fan who just watched him cut through your heart with one mighty swing, is Jose Altuve, the dynamo of a second baseman for the Houston Astros. Altuve blasted a two-run, walk-off home run with two outs in the bottom of the ninth off Yankees closer Aroldis Chapman, igniting a raucous crowd and sending Houston to the World Series for the third time in franchise history and second time in three years.

"And yeah, if you look at his actions, they look a little suspicious. At the end of the day, I just don't know," Chapman said, according to ESPN's Buster Olney. I can't tell you if he had the sign or didn't have the sign–I don't know.

2020 ALCS Game 4 vs Tampa Bay at Petco Park

Only one hitter managed to hit Chapman’s fastball for a homer this year, J.D. But the slider becomes a home run pitch when it doesn’t break, which is what happened for Travis d’Arnaud, Eloy Jimenez and now Altuve. The quick start left the Yankees scrambling to catch up all night in what turned out to be a futile effort to save their campaign. Finally, LeMahieu's great at-bat brought New York even -- at least for a few minutes.

"It felt good, though. I'm just happy for Jose Altuve and he deserves all that. He got a little emotional after the game, and we all did. It was something special today." Down 7-2 heading to the ninth, the Astros posted their first win when trailing by five or more runs in the ninth inning since July 25, 1980 (and the first ended on a walk-off hit since July 24, 1978). "A lot of people are disappointed with the situation. That's why the commissioner did an investigation," Chapman told Olney. "Hopefully, they take the right actions. I just feel that they put baseball in a bad spot. A lot of people have suffered because of it, because of what they did, and what came out of it."