Jose Altuve smashed a three-run home run in the ninth inning to deliver defending champion Houston a dramatic 5-4 comeback victory over Texas on Friday in the Major League Baseball playoffs.
The 33-year-old Venezuelan second baseman, the talisman of the Astros’ dynasty run, rallied the visitors to victory after a benches-clearing scuffle in the eighth inning saw two players and Astros manager Dusty Baker ejected.
Altuve blasted his 26th career MLB playoff homer off Rangers closer Jose Leclerc to give Houston a 3-2 lead in the best-of-seven American League Championship Series, moving the Astros within one win of their third consecutive World Series and fifth in seven seasons.
Asked where he would rank the blast among his post-season homer, Altuve said, “Number one, because it was tonight, it just happened. I’m really happy.”
“We were really down. We didn’t want to go home down by one… so it was good to hit that one and get the team to win.”
It came after Texas outfielder Adolis Garcia crushed a three-run homer in the sixth to give the Rangers a 4-2 lead before he was tossed in the eighth as intense emotions boiled over.
Garcia was hit by a pitch from Houston’s Bryan Abreu — sparking a melee that saw both players and Baker ejected.
The Rangers must win twice in Houston to reach the World Series for the first time since 2011, starting with game six on Sunday in Houston.
The National League Championship Series continues later at Arizona with Philadelphia leading 2-1.
The Astros, who downed Philadelphia in last year’s World Series, have won 19 of their past 22 away games and seven in a row at Texas.
The game first turned in the sixth when Garcia belted his fourth homer of the playoffs off Astros starting pitcher Justin Verlander to give Texas a two-run edge.
The 30-year-old Cuban slugger forcefully threw his bat to the ground as he began to round the bases after giving a home team the lead for the first time in the series.
Tensions flared in the bottom of the eighth when Abreu hit Garcia with a fastball and Garcia reacted angrily, confronting Houston players and needing teammates to restrain him after both squads ran off the benches and onto the field.
“Things just happened. He got a little mad but hopefully it doesn’t go beyond this and we keep playing a beautiful series,” Altuve said of Garcia.
‘Everyone is amped up’
Umpires decided Abreu deliberately hit Garcia with the pitch and tossed him from the game. Garcia was ejected as well as Baker, who argued in vain the Astros didn’t want to put the Texas star on base.
“I know Abreu. I know he’s not trying to hit anybody in a two-run game in the post-season,” Astros star Alex Bregman said. “Everyone is amped up because this is what we play for.”
Houston got out of the inning without allowing another run. Astros pinch-hitter Yainer Diaz singled, Jon Singleton walked and Altuve smashed the ball over the left-field wall to give the Astros the lead.
“I was just focused on getting one pitch in the middle I could really hit,” Altuve said. “I was just trying to focus on something I could handle and it happened.”
Mitch Garver and Jonah Heim singled for Texas in the ninth but Marcus Semien lined out, Corey Seager flew out and Evan Carter struck out to end the game.
Texas pitcher Jordan Montgomery, who threw 6 1/3 scoreless innings in the series opener, surrendered a solo homer to Houston’s Bregman in the first inning.
Texas pulled level at 1-1 in the fifth inning when Nathaniel Lowe blasted a solo homer over the left-field wall.
The Astros regained the lead in the sixth when Bregman walked, took third base on a single to right field by Yordan Alvarez and scored when Abreu bounced a single off Texas shortstop Seager.
