Astros-outfielder Kyle Tucker hit his bat after hitting a one-out pop-up in the seventh inning of Friday night’s 9-5 win against the A’s in Oakland, frustrated that he had lost an RBI opportunity with teammate Jose Altuve who was on third base.
When A’s short stop, Elvis Andrus, shifted to the right side, drifted backwards and routinely caught the pop-up about 3 yards past the infield dirt in the shallow right field, Altuve caught him off guard. Andrus paused for a moment before realizing that Altuve was on his way home and sliding in safely for Andrus’s desperate throw.
That’s right, Altuve scored on a sacrifice fly… to the short stop.
The fierce play, which left Tucker with an unexpected RBI and gave the Astros a 6-2 lead, made Altuve and his teammates smile from ear to ear. Altuve reached base in his first four at bats on Friday as the lead-off hitter – a role that George Springer held for the previous five seasons.
Altuve’s sprint speed from third to home was 30 feet per second, according to Statcast, meaning he was flying. A sprint speed of 30 feet per second is considered elite (27 is the MLB average).
Just two games in the season, the Astros play with the kind of emotion and fuss – as Altuve’s crazy flight home indicated – that was largely absent last year, as they pushed their way to a 29-31 record in the regular season. . Altuve had the worst year of his career on record, but he’s off to 2021 energetically and fast.
Altuve’s run in the seventh – one of four he scored on Friday – was the difference in the game before the Astros batted around in the ninth, scoring three runs to blow it open.