Walk Off Double Leads To 2-0 Advantage

15 Oct, 2017

A legendary pitching performance by Justin Verlander, a memorable swing from Carlos Correa and a mad-dash sprint from Jose Altuve have the Astros two wins away from reaching the Fall Classic.

Correa hit a game-winning double into the right-center-field gap off Aroldis Chapman to score Altuve from first base and send the Astros to a 2-1 walk-off win over the Yankees in Game 2 of the American League Championship Series presented by Camping World on Saturday at Minute Maid Park.

“When a guy like Verlander goes out there and throws nine innings and 124 pitches, you want to win that game for him,” Correa said. “We took a lot of pride in that. We talked about it in the ninth inning when there was one out. I looked at Altuve and said, ‘Hey, we’ve got to make this happen for him.’ And we did. It was huge.”

With Altuve at first base after a one-out single in the ninth, Correa lashed a 99.3-mph Chapman fastball into right-center field, where it was tracked down by right fielder Aaron Judge. Shortstop Didi Gregorius cut the ball off behind second base and fired to the plate, where catcher Gary Sanchez could not handle the short hop as Altuve slid home safely.

Altuve went from first to home in 10.27 seconds, his fastest such time this season and fastest since 2015. It was a feat all the more impressive given that his secondary lead was a modest 10.7 feet. As proof of how fast Altuve was moving, consider this: His sprint speed on the play was 29.5 feet per second, well ahead of his 2017 “max effort” average of 28.0 feet per second and the MLB average of 27 feet per second.

It was certainly an aggressive send by third-base coach Gary Pettis, but with a strikeout pitcher such as Chapman on the mound, it was understandable. According to Statcast™, Altuve was 56 feet from home plate when Gregorius received the relay throw, and 25 feet away when it hit Sanchez’s glove. Had Altuve stayed at third, Houston’s win expectancy would have stood at 83.8 percent, and had he been out, it would have dropped to 60.8.

“Bottom line is, if I catch that ball, he’s going to be out,” Sanchez said through an interpreter. “I dropped the ball. It was a small bounce, but that’s a play that I know I can make.”

MLB.com

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