Astros Strong Read online

  Brett Coomer/Houston Chronicle

  Contents

  Introduction by Steve Schaeffer

  World Series

  Road to the Title

  George Springer

  Carlos Correa

  Justin Verlander

  Josh Reddick

  Jose Altuve

  Yuli Gurriel

  American League Division Series

  American League Championship Series

  Introduction by Steve Schaeffer

  Houston Chronicle Baseball Editor

  Perhaps it was foreshadowed on January 18, when Jeff Bagwell was named an electee to the National Baseball Hall of Fame: 2017 would be the year of the Astros.

  Bagwell was elected on his seventh try (or six too many in the eyes of Astros fans), but Houston had grown accustomed to waiting where its baseball team was concerned.

  Born as the Colt .45s in 1962, the franchise that in 1965 became the Astros finished 2016 without a championship in 55 years of play. The 2005 team was the only one to have won a pennant but was swept in the World Series by the Chicago White Sox.

  The story of the 2017 team really begins in late 2011, when Jim Crane purchased the franchise and hired Jeff Luhnow as its general manager. Jose Altuve had completed his rookie season, and George Springer had been selected in the first round of that year’s draft. The silver lining in a 106-loss campaign was that Luhnow would get the first draft pick in 2012, which he used on 17-year-old shortstop Carlos Correa.

  Rebuilding yielded two more seasons of triple-digit losses (107 in 2012 and 111 in 2013, their first year as an American League entity), but by the time A.J. Hinch arrived as manager in 2015, the Astros were ready to emerge as a contender. With Correa taking Rookie of the Year honors and Dallas Keuchel registering a Cy Young Award campaign, the Astros won the AL wild card and made the playoffs for the first time in 10 years. They were six outs from advancing to the AL Championship Series before the Kansas City Royals rallied from a four-run deficit in Game 4 and went on to win the AL Division Series in five games.

  Unable to overcome a slow start to the 2016 season, the Astros didn’t make the playoffs. But in 2017, it all clicked.

  Joining Altuve, Springer and Correa in their Core Four was 2016 call-up Alex Bregman, drafted by Luhnow with the second overall selection of 2015. Yuli Gurriel, a star in Cuba, had been procured in 2016. And perhaps as importantly, Luhnow had added a veteran presence to the clubhouse via an offseason trade for Brian McCann and the free-agent signings of Josh Reddick and Carlos Beltran.

  A slow start would not be an issue in 2017. The Astros went 16-9 in April, 22-7 in May and 16-11 in June and were 60-29 at the All-Star break, good for a 16.5-game lead atop the AL West. Six Astros – Altuve, Correa, Springer, Keuchel, Lance McCullers Jr. and Chris Devenski – would represent the team at the All-Star Game in Miami.

  But it would not be a season without obstacles. At one point, 80 percent of the starting rotation was on the disabled list. Correa and Springer, who at midseason joined Altuve as legitimate MVP candidates, would see DL time in the second half. August would bring the first losing month of the year.

  And then there was Harvey.

  Starting on the final Saturday of August, with the Astros in California for a series with the Los Angeles Angels, the Houston area was devastated by flooding caused by Hurricane Harvey, with rainfall totaling more than 50 inches over three days in some spots.

  Fatalities numbered in the dozens. Those displaced from their homes numbered in the thousands. Did baseball even matter anymore?

  Turns out it did. Although the Astros were routed to Tampa to play a three-game “home” series with the Rangers, Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner was insistent that they return to Minute Maid Park for their next scheduled series against the New York Mets. The Astros could offer a welcome diversion, but they went beyond that. On their first full day back, they participated in hurricane relief efforts, immersing themselves in a community in need.

  Out of Harvey arose a slogan: Houston Strong. It epitomized a city that would not be defeated by anything inflicted upon it.

  And as if on a mission for something beyond themselves, the Astros returned to their winning ways, going 21-8 to close the season and finishing with 101 victories, a total that ranked second in franchise history.

  Oh, did we mention Justin Verlander?

  On Aug. 31, with seconds to spare in getting the paperwork processed, the Astros acquired the ace righthander in a trade-deadline deal with the Detroit Tigers. The final piece had arrived, confirmed by Verlander’s winning all five of his September starts with his new club while posting a 1.06 ERA.

  But winning in September is child’s play compared to winning in October. A team has to be strong.

  Up first in the playoffs were the AL East champion Boston Red Sox in the ALDS. The Astros won the first two games at home, but with Boston in position to even things and force a fifth game, Bregman hit a game-tying homer off Sox ace Chris Sale in the eighth inning, and Josh Reddick delivered the go-ahead single off closer extraordinaire Craig Kimbrel. How strong is that?

  Then came the ALCS and the New York Yankees, baseball’s most storied franchise, with 27 championships and 40 pennants to its name.

  Things were looking good when the Astros tagged another premier closer, Aroldis Chapman, with a ninth-inning run in Game 2 to put them up 2-0 in the series. But the season was on the brink after New York won three consecutive games at Yankee Stadium.

  Not to worry. After the series returned to Minute Maid, Verlander won Game 6, and Charlie Morton and McCullers teamed on a 4-0 Game 7 shutout, putting the Astros into the World Series for the second time. Strong stuff.

  The final obstacle: the 104-win Los Angeles Dodgers in the first World Series since 1970 to feature a pair of 100-victory clubs.

  After best-pitcher-of-his-time Clayton Kershaw mowed down the Astros in Game 1, they won a game for the ages in Game 2. Facing Kenley Jansen, the best closer on earth (and probably the galaxy), Marwin Gonzalez homered to tie the game at 3 in the ninth. Homers by Altuve and Correa put the Astros up 5-3 in the 10th, but the Dodgers evened things in the bottom half. Unfazed, Springer hit a two-run homer in the 11th, and Devenski, despite allowing a solo homer, held on for the biggest save of his career to seal the 7-6 victory.

  A split of Games 3 and 4 left things tied. Cue another game for the ages.

  In Game 5, the Astros overcame 4-1, 7-4 and 8-7 deficits – scoring six runs off Kershaw in the process – and held a 12-9 lead after eight innings. Then a three-run L.A. ninth elevated this one to an epic that will be hard to match. The minute-by-Minute Maid drama would end an inning later, when Bregman’s RBI single off Jansen gave the Astros a 13-12 decision in the greatest game Houston’s downtown ballpark has seen.

  With a shift back to L.A., the Series was pushed to its max when the Dodgers beat Verlander in a 3-1 Game 6. But with Springer tying a Series record with his fifth home run as the Astros took a 5-0 lead in the second inning of Game 7, five pitchers teamed to shut down the Dodgers 5-1. Morton sparkled over the final four innings, and when Gurriel gloved Altuve’s throw from second to first for the final out, there was rejoicing in H-town.

  In what had been a heavyweight prize fight in baseball form, the Astros emerged strongest.

  Now comes the savoring. The highlights of the most memorable season in Astros annals, as reported and photographed by the supremely talented staff members who covered the team for the Houston Chronicle, are contained within these pages.

  It was a year that will reverberate in Houston for decades to come. Finally, for the first time in their history, the Ast
ros wore the crown of world champions.

  They galvanized a city. And a city galvanized them.

  They were Houston Strong. They were Astros Strong.

  World Series

  Mark Mulligan/Houston Chronicle

  Kerplunk

  Kershaw Throws 11-K Game for Dodgers; Keuchel Takes Fall

  By Jake Kaplan

  World Series Game 1

  October 24, 2017 • Los Angeles, California

  Dodgers 3, Astros 1

  The major league-best offense on which the Astros’ 101-win season was built thrived not only because of its power but because of its ability to make contact. Their lineup proved the most difficult to strike out while also leading baseball in slugging percentage.

  But none of that seemed to matter with Clayton Kershaw on the mound Tuesday night for the first World Series game at Dodger Stadium since 1988. The lefthander is the greatest pitcher of his generation, and in the biggest start yet in his Hall of Fame-worthy career, he made the Astros his victims.

  The Astros managed to put only three runners on base in Game 1 of the Fall Classic, resulting in a 3-1 loss that renders Wednesday night’s Game 2 all but a must win for the American League champions. They struck out 12 times, a total they reached or eclipsed only four times during the regular season. The hitting-with-runners-in-scoring-position column didn’t even make the visitors’ side of the box score.

  Kershaw, a former MVP and a three-time Cy Young Award winner, became the first pitcher to strike out 11 in a World Series game since Arizona’s Randy Johnson in Game 2 in 2001. Before Kershaw on Tuesday, Don Newcombe had been the only pitcher to record 11 strikeouts without issuing a walk in a World Series game. He accomplished the feat for the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1949.

  “Sometimes you have to tip the hat to the other team,” Astros second baseman Jose Altuve said. “I think that’s the case today.”

  Dodgers manager Dave Roberts rode Kershaw for only seven innings and 83 pitches before turning over the game to shutdown relievers Brandon Morrow and Kenley Jansen. The Astros received a winnable start from Dallas Keuchel, who pitched 6 2⁄3 innings but was doomed by his offense’s failure to hit Los Angeles’ pitching.

  Dodgers postseason hero Justin Turner was responsible for the biggest swing of the game, which was played in a brisk two hour, 28 minutes, the shortest for a World Series game in a quarter century. The stadium, which hosted 54,253 mostly blue-and-white clad fans, shook after Turner’s two-run homer in the sixth inning broke a tie.

  “I didn’t know if it was going to be a home run or not,” Turner said. “I knew I backspun it pretty good. I knew I hit it really high. And I knew it was about 98 degrees. So when it’s that hot here, the ball does travel a lot better. … If it’s 10 degrees cooler, that’s probably a routine fly ball in left field.”

  Jose Altuve flies out to end Game 1 of the World Series. Altuve had one of only three hits for the Astros on the night. (Michael Ciaglo/Houston Chronicle)

  The 103-degree weather at first pitch made for the hottest World Series game in recorded history. In a performance reminiscent of the first five games of their AL Championship Series against the Yankees, the Astros’ bats went cold.

  “I don’t think it has anything to do with the ALCS. That’s a completely different pitching staff,” Astros manager A.J. Hinch said. “Tonight is about Kershaw.”

  Kershaw, a 10-year veteran who’s only 29, became the first pitcher all season to strike out 11 Astros in a start. Only two – Cleveland’s Corey Kluber and Philadelphia’s Aaron Nola – reached double digits against them during the regular season.

  The Astros, who fell to 0-5 all-time in World Series games, will have to hit lefthander Rich Hill on Wednesday to muster a split before the series moves to Houston.

  “This team is a really good hitting team. They hit a lot of homers and don’t strike out. There’s little room for error,” Kershaw said. “So it’s important for me to establish pitches, be able to throw multiple things for strikes, and thankfully, I was able to do that tonight.”

  A solo home run by Alex Bregman and singles by Altuve and Josh Reddick signified the Astros’ output. George Springer went 0-for-4 with four strikeouts. Carlos Correa, Yuli Gurriel, Brian McCann and Marwin Gonzalez were each 0-for-3. Two of Kershaw’s strikeouts came against Keuchel.

  “(Kershaw) just did a great job of commanding the plate tonight,” said Springer, who is without an extra-base hit since the Division Series. “He was able to throw his slider with depth. He was able to throw it across, in, and then spot up his heater. He threw the ball well. There’s really nothing else to say about it.”

  Keuchel also pitched well but surrendered two costly homers. Chris Taylor, who shared NLCS MVP honors with Turner, got the 113th Fall Classic started by launching Keuchel’s first pitch of the game 447 feet to left field. The blast was the fourth leadoff home run in the history of World Series Game 1s. Taylor ambushed an 87 mph fastball thrown down and inside.

  Keuchel regrouped immediately. The ground-ball inducer extraordinaire faced only one batter more than the minimum through five innings. He was backed by three double plays turned behind him.

  In the sixth, Keuchel extracted consecutive groundouts to Correa at shortstop. But in his third battle with Taylor, he issued the game’s first walk. Against Turner, he jumped ahead to a 1-and-2 count. After he had beaten the Dodgers third baseman on cutters in his two previous at-bats, Keuchel decided to go back to the pitch, this one high and inside. Turner, who had switched to a smaller bat, got to it.

  “That one was a tough one to swallow,” Keuchel said.

  All of the game’s runs scored via long balls. In the fourth inning, Bregman made Kershaw pay for a 1-and-1 fastball he left over the middle by lining it over the left-field fence. At 23, Bregman became the youngest AL player to homer in the World Series since a 23-year-old Manny Ramirez took Atlanta’s Mark Wohlers deep in Game 4 of the 1995 series between the Indians and Braves.

  But other than Bregman, the Astros couldn’t touch Kershaw. The Dallas native thrived behind a fastball that sat at 93 mph, a slider he ran up to 90 mph, and a curveball in the mid-70s. The performance marked the fifth time in 18 career postseason starts he reached double digits in strikeouts. It was his third career postseason start in which he didn’t issue a walk.

  “He’s a great pitcher. He’s going to the Hall of Fame,” Bregman said. “He pitched really well. He made some good pitches. He made some good marginal pitches on the way. It’s all right. We’ll show up ready to go (in Game 2).”

  Homer Happy

  Springer’s Decisive Blow in 11th Follows Blasts by Gonzalez, Altuve, Correa

  By Jake Kaplan

  World Series Game 2

  October 25, 2017 • Los Angeles, California

  Astros 7, Dodgers 6 (11 innings)

  George Springer etched his name in Astros lore with the biggest hit in franchise history Wednesday night at Dodger Stadium.

  Springer drove a go-ahead two-run homer to right-center field in the top of the 11th inning to propel the Astros to their first win in a World Series game in 56 seasons of franchise history. The American League champions mashed four home runs from the ninth inning on to fuel a 7-6 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers and even the Fall Classic at 1-1.

  After a day of rest and travel, Game 3 brings the action back home to Minute Maid Park. It will have a difficult time living up to the bedlam that ensued in Game 2.

  “(It was) probably as nerve-wracking as it is in the stands for everybody else,” Springer said. “You know who’s on the other team, you know who’s on deck, and you know who’s hitting. And when that last out is made, you finally breathe.”

  Before Springer’s heroics, Marwin Gonzalez, Jose Altuve and Carlos Correa each took turns playing hero.

  With the Astros just three outs from a 2-0 series deficit, Gonzalez belted a
game-tying solo shot in the ninth against the usually unhittable Dodgers closer Kenley Jansen. In a 10th that at the time appeared to shift the momentum for good, Altuve and Correa homered in back-to-back at-bats against ex-Astro Josh Fields to open a two-run lead.

  Correa punctuated his homer with an epic bat flip and channeled his inner Yasiel Puig when asked about it after the game.

  “Like one friend of mine once said,” Correa said, “I don’t know why my bats are so slippery.”

  But after Altuve and Correa put the game back in the Astros’ hands in the top of the 10th, Ken Giles blew the lead in the bottom of the frame. On the heels of a perfect ninth, Giles began the 10th by surrendering a home run to Puig. A two-out walk to Logan Forsythe, a wild pitch and a single by Kiké Hernandez tied the game.

  Springer, who with Cameron Maybin on second base cranked a 2-and-1 slider from Dodgers righthander Brandon McCarthy, bailed out the Astros closer. Chris Devenski recorded the final four outs but not before allowing a solo homer to Charlie Culberson with two outs in the 11th, the eighth home run of the game, which set a World Series record.

  Marwin Gonzalez hits a home run during the ninth inning of Game 2, tying the game at 3-3 and forcing extra innings. (Michael Ciaglo/Houston Chronicle)

  “I just need to go out there and execute better,” said Giles, who has allowed a run or more in five of his six postseason outings. “I’ve just got to do a better job flat out.”

  The Astros were 0-5 all-time in World Series games before Wednesday’s dramatic comeback. Altuve and Correa became the first teammates in World Series history to hit extra-inning homers in the same game, let alone doing it back-to-back. Gonzalez became the first visiting player to tie a World Series game with a ninth-inning homer since the Red Sox’s Dwight Evans in Game 3 of the 1975 Series against the Reds.