These are Astros' top 10 home runs of decade
HOUSTON -- You don’t have to go back too far in the record books to find the Astros’ top home runs of the decade. Most of them came during the team’s run to the World Series title run in 2017, and, of course, José Altuve’s pennant-clinching walk-off against the Yankees last month was an indelible moment.
But which one was the biggest in the last decade? The Astros hit 15 home runs in the 2017 World Series, including five in a 13-12 win over the Dodgers in Game 5. Three of the homers tied the game. Houston hit 11 homers in the 2019 World Series. There’s no shortage of candidates.
This won’t be easy so let’s take a try at ranking the biggest Astros homers of the 2010s:
1) 2017 World Series Game 2: Gonzalez stuns the Dodgers
Date: Oct. 25, 2017
Down to their final three outs and possibly staring a 2-0 World Series deficit in the face against the Dodgers, Marwin Gonzalez rescued the Astros. His game-tying homer off an 0-2 pitch throw by Dodgers closer Kenley Jansen in the ninth inning swung the momentum of the series. It was only the second blown save Jansen had allowed all season. The Astros wound up hitting three more homers in extra innings to win the game, 7-6, and tie the series at one game apiece heading back to Houston, but none of that was possible without Gonzalez’s clutch shot.
2) 2019 ALCS Game 6: Altuve walks off the Yankees
Date: Oct. 19, 2019
In one of the best moments in the history of Minute Maid Park, Altuve crushed an Aroldis Chapman slider and hit a towering walk-off two-run homer in the ninth inning for a 6-4 win over the Yankees in Game 6 of the ALCS. The Astros won the best-of-seven series, 4-2, to punch their ticket to the World Series for the second time in three seasons, while Altuve cemented himself as an Astros legend.
3) 2017 World Series Game 2: Springer breaks extra-inning tie
Date: Oct. 25, 2017
After Gonzalez sent Game 2 of the 2017 World Series to extra innings with a solo homer in the ninth, the Astros took a 5-3 lead in the 10th on back-to-back homers by Altuve and Carlos Correa off Josh Fields. The Dodgers tied it in the bottom of the inning before George Springer launched a two-run homer in the 11th off Brandon McCarthy to put Houston up, 7-5. The Astros survived an 11th-inning homer by Charlie Culberson to win, 7-6.
4) 2017 World Series Game 7: Springer breaks it open
Date: Nov. 1, 2017
Springer took the drama out of Game 7 of the 2017 World Series and sucked the life out of Dodger Stadium when he crushed a two-run homer off Dodgers starter Yu Darvish to put the Astros ahead, 5-0, in the second inning. The Astros went on to win the game, 5-1, and Springer was named World Series Most Valuable Player after hitting five home runs in the series, including the kill shot in Game 7.
5) 2017 World Series Game 5: Correa extends the lead
Date: Oct. 29, 2017
The Astros socked five home runs in Game 5 of the 2017 World Series, including three game-tying blasts. The biggest homer of the game, though, might have been Correa’s two-run shot off Brandon Morrow in the bottom of the seventh that put the Astros ahead, 11-8. They wound up winning, 13-12, in 10 innings on an Alex Bregman walk-off single to take a 3-2 lead in the series.
6) 2017 World Series Game 2: Correa follows Altuve
Date: Oct. 25, 2017
The Astros had barely finished celebrating Altuve’s tiebreaking homer in the 10th inning of Game 2 of the 2017 World Series at Dodger Stadium when Correa launched another to the same spot in left-center two pitches later off Fields, his former teammate. Correa tossed the bat and stuck his tongue out toward his teammates in the first-base dugout after giving the Astros a 5-3 lead. They wound up winning the game, 7-6.
7) 2019 World Series Game 4: Bregman slams Nats
Date: Oct. 26, 2019
Bregman delivered the knockout punch in Game 4 of the 2019 World Series in Washington with a grand slam off Nationals pitcher Fernando Rodney to give Houston an 8-1 lead in the seventh inning. It was the 20th grand slam in World Series history and only the second by a third baseman (Ken Boyer, 1964). Bregman drove in five runs to tie the Astros’ single-game postseason franchise record.
8) 2017 World Series Game 5: Gurriel takes Kershaw deep
Date: Oct. 29, 2017
The first of three game-tying home runs in the unforgettable Game 5 of the 2017 World Series, Yuli Gurriel’s no-doubt, three-run shot to left field off Clayton Kershaw tied the game at 4 in the fourth inning and provided a hint that it was going to be a magical night at Minute Maid Park.
9) 2017 World Series Game 5: Altuve's three-run shot ties it
Date: Oct. 29, 2017
After the Astros scored four in the fourth inning of Game 5 of the 2017 World Series -- capped by Gurriel’s three-run homer -- to tie the game at 4, the Dodgers scored three times in the fifth to take a 7-4 lead. It didn’t last long. Altuve blasted a three-run homer off Kenta Maeda to tie game at 7 in the bottom of the inning, sending Minute Maid Park into a frenzy.
10) 2017 World Series Game 5: McCann gives Astros lead in extras
Date: Oct. 29, 2017
The knock-down, drag-out Game 5 of the 2017 World Series appeared to be over when veteran catcher Brian McCann hit a solo homer in the eighth to give the Astros a 12-9 lead. We should have known better. The Dodgers tied the game and forced extra innings before the Astros won, 13-12, in 10 innings, but McCann’s solo homer provided valuable insurance.