In a battle of the bullpens, Carlos Correa felt the greatest relief.
Injured down the stretch and slumping this month, Correa on Sunday hit a leadoff home run in the 11th inning that lifted the Houston Astros over the New York Yankees 3-2, tying the American League Championship Series at 1-1.
Correa, who earlier lined an RBI double and made a sensational play at shortstop, connected for an opposite-field shot to the right off J.A. Happ.
Photo: AFP
“Not playing a couple of weeks before the playoffs and then not producing for my team offensively, obviously it’s tough, getting hurt and everything, but it’s all worth it for moments like this, moments like this where you give your team a chance to win every day, it’s worth it, man,” Correa said.
Hours earlier, Correa was confident it would be the day he turned things around. About time, too, after starting out three of 22 in the post-season after returning from back problems.
“I’ve got my swing back,” he said. “I’m going to hit a homer tonight.”
And with a swing that kept Houston from falling into an 0-2 hole, he did just that.
“Going into that last inning I thought: ‘I got this. I feel like I got this,’” Correa said. “And I had the right approach against him. I’ve been successful against him going the other way and that’s what I try to do, I saw a good pitch down the middle and I drove the other way.”
Correa watched the ball sail, tossed his bat, put his hand to one ear to soak in the roars of the crowd and then held up one finger as he rounded the bases.
As he approached home plate, he tossed his helmet as if shooting a basketball at the crowd of teammates waiting for him.
“As soon as I hit it I knew it was going to go over the fence,” he said. “The adrenaline started pumping like crazy. I don’t even know what I did. I’ve got to go watch the video, but I know I was so hyped.”
Correa’s big night gave him 27 RBIs in the post-season to pass Lance Berkman for the most in franchise history.
“You look at his RBI totals in the post-season, you look at his walk-offs, you look at the big moments, he’s a pretty special man,” Astros manager A.J. Hinch said.
The Yankees tied a league championship series record by using nine pitchers.
The eight relievers had permitted only one run and two hits with 11 strikeouts in 7-2/3 innings before Correa homered, ending a game that took 4 hours, 49 minutes.
Houston’s five relievers combined for 4-1/3 innings of one-hit shutout ball after taking over from Justin Verlander.
New York lost for the first time this post-season after four wins.
“It was a struggle tonight,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “They’re tough to score runs off, especially on a night when Verlander is out there.”
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