HOUSTON -- Marwin Gonzalez's play on a star-studded Astros club often goes unnoticed. Then there are times when you can't look away.
Marveling at Gonzalez has become routine for these Astros, whose defense nearly cost them in the fifth inning on Friday night against the Yankees, until it saved them. Gonzalez's defense saved them.
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The shortstop turned ultra-utility man has started all five of Houston's postseason games in left field, and he made a doozy of a throw to prevent a run from scoring in Astros' 2-1 victory in the opener of this best-of-seven American League Championship Series presented by Camping World.
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"That was the play of the game right there," Astros shortstop Carlos Correa said.
Gonzalez's 97.4-mph throw (as tracked by Statcast™) nailed Greg Bird at home plate for the final out of the fifth inning, allowing Houston to escape the frame with its 2-0 lead intact.
"Marwin is so versatile, but in a lot of ways, we talk about that because he can play a lot of positions," Astros manager A.J. Hinch said. "Where that sells him short is that he plays them well. We need to talk about how good he is at every position, not just the fact that I can put him in any position."
It took a perfect throw to cut down Bird on Friday, and Gonzalez delivered just that.
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Bird christened the inning with a single against Astros starter Dallas Keuchel. He advanced to second on Matthew Holliday's tapper to second base that Jose Altuve bobbled for an error that put two aboard with none out. Keuchel buckled down, retiring Todd Frazier and Brett Gardner, before giving in to Aaron Judge on a full count.
"I threw Judge seven sliders in a row, and he put a good swing on one," Keuchel said.
Bird had a secondary lead of 17.9 feet and was running with the pitch. Judge sent a sharp line drive into left field, and the race began: Bird clocked a second-to-home time of 6.53 seconds, topping his previous career best of 7.17.
Gonzalez, meanwhile, unleashed his hardest throw of the year. He stood 252 feet from home when the ball left his hand. Bird was just 70 feet from scoring.
"It was on the line right to me," catcher Brian McCann said. "I didn't have to move my glove."
Gonzalez's throw beat Bird by 0.4 seconds.

"I screamed as loud as I could, like I threw the guy out," Astros right fielder Josh Reddick said. "It was a big moment for us. I said to George [Springer] that I couldn't believe he threw it in the first place. I'm really glad he did. Put it on the money. I probably would've came up firing to third. You tip your cap to a guy on a play where a lot of guys wouldn't even try to make it."
Gonzalez, who also saved a run with his arm in a series-clinching one-run win against the Red Sox in Game 4 of the AL Division Series presented by Doosan, didn't even consider not throwing home an option.
"All I was thinking," he said, "was to go get the ball as fast as I could, since I knew he was on second and I knew that was the only chance to get him at home plate."
Bird's sprint speed of 26.3 feet per second was well ahead of his max-effort average of 25.9 feet per second. That didn't matter.
"I'm too slow," Bird conceded. "I wish I was a little faster."

Said Yankees manager Joe Girardi: "You think it's a ball with 3-2 that he's going to score on. But again, if he's 10 percent faster, 5 percent faster, he scores. It's just the speed that he has. So it's a bang-bang play, it's a perfect throw."
Girardi challenged the out call by home-plate umpire Chad Holbrook, and although it was confirmed by replay officials in New York, the math suggests that it was worth it to challenge -- and worth it for third-base coach Joe Espada to send Bird in the first place. Based on the win expectancy matrix created by MLB.com's Tom Tango, the Yankees had a win expectancy of 23.4 percent when Judge stepped to the plate.
• Had Bird stopped at third, the Yankees' win expectancy would have inched upward to 27.6 percent.
• Had he been safe at home: 34.9 percent
• When Bird was called out: 18 percent
In other words, New York's win expectancy would have increased almost 12 percentage points had Bird been safe, but it dropped less than six when he was ruled out.
The Yankees' potential reward was too great, much like Gonzalez's throw.

"They have good arms in the outfield all across the board," said Judge. "[Gonzalez] fielded it cleanly and threw a perfect strike to McCann. It was a perfect play."
Gonzalez, who made just 38 of his 120 regular-season starts in left field, is the first left fielder with outfield assists in consecutive postseason games since Hall of Famer Jim Rice in the 1986 World Series.
"You can't overstate his importance to this team, not because he can just move around the field," Hinch said. "That's not the hard part. The hard part is being really good and above-average and being a contributor at these positions."