ARLINGTON, Texas – This American League Championship Series pitting in-state rivals took a turn from congenial to contentious to crazy – until finally, one of the greatest postseason players in baseball history restored order.
In a stunning final four innings that saw two massive swings of the bat, three lead changes and a benches-clearing brouhaha all while the upper hand in this ALCS found a balance, Jose Altuve had the last word. His three-run home run to left field off Rangers closer Jose Leclerc in the top of the ninth gave the Astros a 5-4 victory in Game 5, bringing their season off life support and back, once again, on the doorstep to the World Series.
It was Altuve’s 26th career home run, second-most in major league playoff history, and it ranks among the most memorable.
For the Rangers, it was another sordid chapter in a postseason history that ultimately ends with them snake-bitten.
They were riding high, having taken a 4-2 lead on Adolis Garcia’s three-run home run with one out in the top of the sixth. They also had the moral high ground, as Astros reliever Bryan Abreu appeared to retaliate for Garcia’s celebratory bat spike by hitting him in the ribs in the bottom of the eighth inning.
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Garcia immediately got in catcher Martin Maldonado’s face, assuming the pitch was retaliation – perhaps for Garcia’s emphatic celebration, or extending from a beef between the two teams in…
