In Game 2, the Astros opened a 4-1 lead after three innings before falling 5-4.
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“That’s the thing about this team, we always feel that we are still in games and we still have a chance”, said first baseman Hosmer, who belted a two-run home run in the ninth. The series is now tied two games each.
The Royals have won nine of their past 10 elimination games and are coming off a late rally in Game 4 to force the deciding game. Already you can see he’s on his way to being one of the best players in all of baseball, and seeing stuff like this on a big stage makes you really wonder what more is to come.
The Astros were able to get one run back in their half of the second on a solo homerun off the bat of center fielder Carlos Gomez.
Alex Rios got the Royals’ comeback rolling with a leadoff single off Astros relief pitcher Will Harris in the eighth.
“I missed it. That’s what happened”, Correa said. “They don’t need to be told that Game 5’s a big game”, Astros manager A.J. Hinch said.
Cueto will start for the Royals on Wednesday against the Houston Astros in Game 5 of the Division Series in Kansas City, Missouri. But in the end, the Royals leave the top of the eighth with a 7-6 lead. Houston’s bullpen blew a four-run lead during an agonizing eighth inning, and a defensive miscue by Correa landed smack in the middle of the carnage.
“We have a lot of confidence going into Kansas City, ” said Correa, who went 4-for-4 despite getting hit by a pitch in the left elbow in the first inning.
McHugh grabbed the win in Game 1 while allowing two runs and four hits in six innings.
Correa absolutely shined for Houston, going 4/4 with two runs, four RBI, a double, and a homer to power the team’s offense.
The young, nearly naive bunch of guys in the Kansas City clubhouse kept riding that momentum all the way to Game 7 of the World Series, where they finally lost to San Francisco.
“We have just as good a chance to win Game 5 as the Royals”. They are scheduled to send Johnny Cueto to the mound, while the Astros are expected to counter with Collin McHugh.
Correa’s heroics – he became the youngest player in AL history with a multihomer game in the postseason and finished with four RBI – were the flawless symbol for the revival of a franchise that had fallen to nearly unfathomable depths since its last playoff appearance in 2005. It probably didn’t hurt that it includes the line: “We got Carlos Correa he’s the rookie of the year”. His 2012 draft classmate, right-hander Lance McCullers, was sharp in his postseason debut, limiting the Royals to two runs on two hits and two walks with seven strikeouts over 6 1/3 innings.
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They exploded with a five-run eighth inning, followed by two insurance runs in the ninth, to complete a 9-6 win. “He was starting to land his breaking ball as the game went along and to finish his outing the way he did was very, very impressive”.
