Astros Strong Read online

  “And they always come up and give me their blessing and want me to know they care, and that means a lot.”

  Nine Astros victories for the new ace, four in the playoffs.

  Doing what he was brought here to do each time and resetting the bar higher and higher with each instantly memorable postseason start.

  These Astros are hosting a Game 7.

  They’re alive in 2017 because of Verlander.

  Reaching for the Stars

  Brilliance of Morton, McCullers Secures Pennant, Second World Series Trip for Franchise

  By Jake Kaplan

  American League Championship Series Game 7

  October 21, 2017 • Houston, Texas

  Astros 4, Yankees 0

  As he tracked the ball through the air, Jose Altuve clung to his bat with his right hand. He ran almost the entire way down the first-base line this way until he was sure he had hit a home run, at which point he flipped his bat near the coach’s box.

  The heroes were many in the 4-0 victory over the New York Yankees that punched the Astros’ ticket to only their second World Series in 56 seasons Saturday night at a raucous Minute Maid Park. Charlie Morton recorded the first 15 outs, Lance McCullers Jr. the last 12. Brian McCann came through in the clutch. Alex Bregman cut down a run with his arm.

  But it was fitting Altuve provided the most majestic moment of Game 7 of the American League Championship Series. Perhaps soon to be the league’s Most Valuable Player, the 5-foot-6 second baseman is the heart and soul of the Astros. He was their best player and their constant on the field through their drastic tear-down and long-term rebuild and now for their return to prominence.

  On Tuesday night, Altuve will lead his team onto the field at Dodger Stadium for Game 1 of the World Series. His Astros clinched their appearance in the Fall Classic by holding home field in each of their four ALCS games at Minute Maid Park, where they were backed by the most boisterous crowds of the season.

  “It means a lot because, obviously, we’ve been working really hard for this,” Altuve said. “I know a lot of people see the Houston Astros going to the World Series, but they don’t see all the effort that we put in for a lot of years to become American League champions. This is awesome. I’m really excited and proud about every single guy on my team.”

  Saturday night’s win served as validation for the Astros’ dark years from 2011 to 2014. It also lifted up a city that will long be recovering from the devastation of Hurricane Harvey. Since its inception, this franchise has advanced to the World Series only once before, in 2005, when it lost to the Chicago White Sox. The Astros have never won a World Series game.

  The Astros celebrate their 4-0 win over the Yankees in Game 7, rallying from a 3-2 series deficit and claiming each of the last two games at Minute Maid Park. (Brett Coomer/Houston Chronicle)

  They will have at least four opportunities beginning this week. They claimed the club’s first Game 7 victory behind dominant pitching and highlight-reel worthy defense. Their offense accumulated a series-high 10 hits.

  Morton and McCullers held the Yankees to only three.

  “We had to make a decision on which guy was going to start, which guy was going to relieve,” Astros manager A.J. Hinch said. “We knew we were going to use both of them. I didn’t know they were going to split the game and get us all 27 outs.”

  Morton set the tone with five scoreless innings on just 54 pitches. The 33-year-old righthander has pitched in the majors since 2008 but until this year, his first with the Astros, had been plagued by injury after injury. The Astros took a risk by signing him in the offseason to a two-year deal worth up to $19 million after incentives. He repaid them and then some.

  “That crowd was unbelievable to have at my back,” Morton said, goggles atop his head amid yet another champagne celebration. “It got me fired up more than any crowd I’ve ever pitched in front of.”

  McCann, who caught Morton in his major league debut with Atlanta nine Junes ago, was another of the Astros’ key offseason acquisitions. They acquired him in a November trade from these same Yankees, who have a budding star at catcher in Gary Sanchez. To obtain better prospects in the deal, New York agreed to pay $5.5 million of McCann’s annual $17 million salary.

  McCann helped to beat his former team Saturday. For the second consecutive night, his double to the right-field corner proved to be one of the most important hits of the game. This one, off Tommy Kahnle in a three-run fifth inning, gave the Astros a 4-0 lead.

  The margin allowed Hinch to leverage McCullers, who started Game 3 of the series, for a four-inning save. The 24-year-old righthander struck out six and allowed only one hit. Forty one of his 54 pitches, including his final 24, were power curveballs.

  “The second half (of the season), I struggled real bad. When I finally got healthy again and I knew I was healthy, I told myself, ‘Hey, when you come out here, it’s time to put some respect back on your name,’ “ McCullers said.

  Justin Verlander holds his MVP trophy while celebrating the Astros 4-0 win over the Yankees in Game 7. The late-season acquisition was instrumental in clinching the second World Series appearance in franchise history. (Brett Coomer/Houston Chronicle)

  “I wanted to prove that I’m always going to be the pitcher that people know I can be when I’m able to be that guy. I just wanted to show my teammates that, ‘Yes, I was absent for the second half, but I have your back now.’ “

  The Astros scored three runs off Kahnle in a game-changing fifth. Before McCann broke open the game with his double, Altuve also punished a changeup for his fifth home run of the playoffs. Though Altuve insisted his bat flip wasn’t meant as disrespect, several of his teammates described it as payback for Kahnle’s showing up Altuve earlier in the series by screaming, “What, what, what,” after striking him out earlier in the series.

  When Altuve’s line drive cleared the right-field fence Saturday, some in the Astros’ dugout began to yell, “What, what, what,” toward the mound.

  “The bat flip,” Altuve said, “was for my team.”

  Altuve’s five postseason homers are the second most for an Astros player in a single postseason, trailing only Carlos Beltran’s eight in 2004.

  “He is the Houston Astro right now,” Hinch said of Altuve. “The way he’s played, what he’s persevered through, the teams he’s been on, and yet he’s still hungry. He’s not going to be satisfied with this celebration. He’s not going to be satisfied with that home run. And that’s what I love about him.”

  The Yankees had action in their bullpen as early as the bottom of the third inning. Their starter, veteran lefthander CC Sabathia, was nowhere near as sharp as he had been in his dominant Game 3 win at Yankee Stadium.

  Lance McCullers Jr. reacts to striking out Yankees right fielder Aaron Judge to end the top of the eighth inning of Game 7. McCullers pitched four strong innings out of the bullpen, earning the save in the series clinching win. (Karen Warren/Houston Chronicle)

  Still, Sabathia maneuvered his way in and out of trouble his first time and a half through the Astros’ lineup. The Astros squandered a leadoff single by George Springer in the first inning and could only watch as Yankees right fielder Aaron Judge robbed Yuli Gurriel of extra bases in the second.

  In the fourth, the Astros struck. Leading off the inning, Evan Gattis fouled off three consecutive two-strike cutters before getting a pitch on which he could do damage. When Sabathia hung a slider, Gattis clobbered it out to left-center field for a solo shot that opened the scoring.

  Before inning’s end, Sabathia’s evening was over. McCann drew a walk, and Josh Reddick snapped his 0-for-22 in the series with a shift-beating single into left field. Yankees manager Joe Girardi called on Kahnle to put out the fire. On Kahnle’s first pitch, Springer grounded into an inning-ending double play.

  Morton sailed through the first four innings, needing only 36 pitches (
including 28 strikes) to record the first 12 outs. The first sign of trouble came in the fifth, which Greg Bird led off by ripping a double to the right-field corner.

  Bird advanced to third base on a fourth-ball wild pitch by Morton to Aaron Hicks with one out, setting the stage for Todd Frazier, who homered off Morton in Game 3. In a 1-and-1 count, Morton threw a 95 mph down in the strike zone that Frazier mishit. The ball rolled to Bregman, who fired a perfect throw home to McCann, able to catch the ball and tag Bird in one motion.

  “We had a play earlier in the year, about 10 games before the end of the regular season, and I tried to turn a double play, and the run scored,” Bregman said. “So before the pitch, I was already ready where if it was hit softly, I was going to throw the guy out at the plate, and if it was hit hard, I was going to turn the double play.

  “As soon as it was hit, I thought, ‘Hey, you better put this on the cash,’ and I pulled out the inner Peyton Manning and threw a dime.”

  Bregman’s throw changed the complexion of the inning. With runners on first and second and two outs, Morton induced a groundout from Chase Headley to escape the jam. Hinch called on McCullers to face the top of the Yankees’ order at the start of the sixth.

  McCullers gave Hinch 12 pivotal outs in relief. Springer sealed one of them with another spectacular leaping catch in center field to steal extra bases from Bird in the seventh. Hinch got Will Harris up in the eighth after McCullers issued a walk to Frazier to begin the inning. McCullers responded by retiring the next three batters, punctuating the frame by striking out Judge on three straight curveballs.

  Ken Giles warmed in the top of the ninth, but the inning belonged to McCullers. He struck out Didi Gregorius and Sanchez before inducing a pop out to shallow center field from Bird. As soon as Bird made contact, McCullers threw his arms up in the air.

  The Astros had won the pennant.

  “This is a special feeling. I can’t even describe it,” shortstop Carlos Correa said. “I got drafted in 2012, and now in 2017 I’m going to the World Series. I don’t think it gets any better than that.”

  “You dream about this as a little kid,” Bregman said. “We’re living a dream.”

  Jose Altuve kisses his daughter while celebrating the Astros’ 4-0 win over the Yankees in Game 7. Altuve hit his fifth homer of the postseason in the game, continuing his dominant 2017 season. (Karen Warren/Houston Chronicle)

  Copyright

  Copyright © 2017 Houston Chronicle

  No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying or otherwise, without prior written permission of the publisher, Triumph Books LLC, 814 North Franklin Street; Chicago, Illinois 60610.

  This book is book is available in quantity at special discounts for your group or organization. For further information, contact:

  Triumph Books LLC

  814 North Franklin Street

  Chicago, Illinois 60610

  Phone: (312) 337-0747

  www.triumphbooks.com

  Printed in U.S.A.

  ISBN: 978-1-62937-486-4

  eISBN: 978-1-64125-055-9

  Houston Chronicle

  John C. McKeon, Publisher and President

  Nancy C. Barnes, Editor and Executive Vice President for News

  Vernon Loeb, Managing Editor

  Randy Harvey, Sports Editor

  Scott Kingsley, Director of Multimedia

  Steve Schaeffer, Book Editor/Houston Chronicle Baseball Editor

  Laura Goldberg, Senior Editor for New & Niche Products

  Reid Laymance, Deputy Sports Editor

  Susan Barber, Design Director

  Linda A. Schaible, Vice President of Marketing and Audience Development

  Content packaged by Mojo Media, Inc.

  Joe Funk: Editor

  Jason Hinman: Creative Director

  Front cover photo by Karen Warren/Houston Chronicle

  Back cover photo by Brett Coomer/Houston Chronicle

  This is an unofficial publication. This book is in no way affiliated with, licensed by or endorsed by Major League Baseball or the Houston Astros.