Chase Headley fell down on his big eighth-inning hit but scrambled to escape the rundown
The 11-year veteran came through, lacing
What was going on in Headley's mind at the time? "Talk about going from extremely excited to extremely panicked in a matter of seconds," he said to MLB.com after the game.
Fortunately for Headley, the play wasn't over, even though relay man
Gurriel's throw to
... but just barely.
Of the decision, Headley said, "My thought was, I'm on the ground. I knew that Correa wasn't looking at me, so I knew he was going to be getting yelled at to throw the ball to first base. As soon as he made the throw, I'm going the other way and hopefully I can sneak in there. You've got to make the best out of a bad situation. Fortunately it worked out."
The Astros called for a review of the play. After all, it was a huge momentum swing. According to Tom Tango's win expectancy matrix, the Yankees had a 23 percent chance of winning when Headley came to the plate. If he was safe at second, it would be 46 percent. If he was out, it would fall to 22 percent.
Headley's fingers touched the base before Altuve's tag, though, and the replay crew ruled that Headley was safe.
Lead the frenzied Yankee Stadium cheer, Chase.
Tune in to Game 5 of the ALCS on Wednesday at 5 p.m. ET on FS1.