HOUSTON — As soon as Yordan Alvarez saw Robbie Ray warming up in the Mariners bullpen, he grabbed his iPad.
There was only one reason for the Seattle lefty and reigning Cy Young Award winner to be getting loose. And Alvarez knew he was that reason. If he were to get up with a chance to win the game, this would be the matchup.
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So he cued up old matchups of the two facing off, a cram study session to prepare for an at-bat that would eventually go down in Astros history as one of the most epic and memorable.
“Being able to get that hit right there,” Alvarez said, “was one of the most special moments of my career.”
It wasn’t just a hit. It was a mammoth 438-foot shot that was still a frozen rope by the time it clanked into the second deck in right field to turn a two-run deficit into an 8-7 victory. After the Mariners spent all afternoon hitting the ball harder and all over the field, Alvarez’s 116.7 mph homer topped them all in significance and sheer brute force.
ELECTRIC. 😤 @SportClips) pic.twitter.com/3jL59OBCRm
— MLB (@MLB) October 12, 2022
Alvarez finished with five RBIs. Alex Bregman homered. So did Yuli Gurriel. It was all in an effort to get Justin Verlander off the hook after what was arguably the worst outing of his lengthy postseason career. The 39-year-old likely Cy Young winner allowed six runs in four innings before he was pulled.
The Astros were down 4-0 after two innings. Then down 7-5 after eight innings. None of it mattered.
“These moments are the things you look back on — and I know it’s just the (division series),” Verlander said. “But when you go all the way, and you win a World Series hopefully, that’s what our goal is and we hope that can happen — these are the moments you look back on.”
The Mariners are the darlings of this postseason. There’s no doubt about it. They haven’t been to the postseason in 21 years. Decades of losing finally ended. Then they swept two games in Toronto to get this opportunity, and it seemed as if they were set to take advantage immediately.
For the Astros, it’s a matter of been there, done that. Verlander’s quote even signals it a bit. It’s “just the (division series).” But there was no downplaying the meaning of this one. Even Bregman, who has been with the Astros throughout the franchise’s resurgence, estimated that the ninth inning was among his top three baseball moments.
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“I’ve seen Yordan do that a ton,” Bregman said, speaking more of Alvarez’s incredible power than the situation in which it was showcased. “Every time he starts squaring balls up, you know he’s going to do that a lot.”
There were several low-key heroes in this game. In the postgame clubhouse celebration, the Astros made sure to shout out rookie David Hensely, who had just 16 major-league games under his belt. It was Hensley who got the rally started with a one-out, full-count walk in the ninth inning when he was hit by Mariners closer Paul Sewald. Then there was Jeremy Peña, who kept the game going by singling up the middle with two outs.
Their roles were critical. Without them, there was no Alvarez at-bat. It was his swing that will play forever on montages or get molded into bobbleheads or be plastered on the cover of commemorative books. It’s a moment that can’t be forgotten no matter how the Astros do this series or this postseason.
“I don’t know what the top is, but that’s very very close to it,” manager Dusty Baker said of Alvarez’s homer in the context of his own storied career. “Boy, the baseball world has to be excited. I know the town is excited, our team’s excited. If you’re not a baseball fan after watching that, there’s a good chance you’ll tune in tomorrow.”
The game held special significance for Alvarez, who had his family in town to see him play in person for the first time during a postseason game.
It held a special significance to the fans — there was one little boy shown crying on the broadcast, a fan representing the thousands of orange-clad faithful who waited 3 1/2 hours for a lead to celebrate.
It held significance for the Astros, who were one out away from giving away home-field advantage and being down 1-0 in a five-game series. That’s a dangerous gamble for any team with World Series aspirations.
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It held significance in baseball history. This was just the second walk-off homer ever in the postseason with a team down to its final out. The other? Kirk Gibson’s in the 1988 World Series.
“When I hit the ball and I saw the ball go, I could feel all the fans getting super loud and super excited,” Alvarez said. “And I’m still super excited.”
Verlander returned to the clubhouse after he came out of the game to review his outing and figure out what he could do better next time. As he did that, the Astros started to mount a comeback. It was decided in Verlander’s mind. There was no need to go back to the dugout and potentially mess with whatever was working.
But the second Alvarez’s no-doubt blast sailed over the wall, Verlander raced out of the clubhouse, into and out of the dugout and right to Alvarez for a jovial embrace.
In the Astros clubhouse after the dust — if not the excitement — had settled on their Game 1 win, Verlander cackled loudly at a question posed to him.
“Do you literally love Yordan Alvarez?”
“Yeah,” Verlander said. “I mean, how could you not?”
(Photo: Troy Taormina / USA Today)