DYK? Facts, figures about EPIC ALCS Game 2
Game 2 of the 2019 American League Championship Series between the Yankees and Astros at Minute Maid Park on Sunday night was one for the ages, with Houston winning, 3-2, on Carlos Correa’s walk-off home run in the 11th inning. The game featured some great pitching, a lot of pitchers, and a clutch hit, not to mention some great defense from the game’s ultimate hero as well.
Here’s a look at some of the notable facts and figures from a memorable Game 2:
• Correa’s home run in the 11th inning was the first walk-off homer against the Yankees in the playoffs since David Ortiz’s 12th-inning big fly to end Game 4 of the 2004 ALCS, in which the Red Sox rallied to win the pennant after falling into a 3-0 series hole.
• Correa became the seventh player with multiple walk-off hits in his postseason career. Not only that, but he now has two walk-off hits against the Yankees in the postseason -- he hit a walk-off double to beat the Yanks in Game 2 of the 2017 ALCS as well. The only other player with multiple walk-off hits against the same team in the postseason is Ortiz, who had a walk-off single in the 14th inning against New York in Game 5 of the 2004 ALCS -- the night after his walk-off homer.
• The Astros now have nine walk-off wins in the postseason in their franchise history, tied with the Cardinals and Braves for third most. The only teams with more are the Yankees (23) and Red Sox (12).
• Correa’s homer was the Astros’ fourth walk-off home run in their postseason history, tied for third with the Cardinals. The only teams with more are the Yanks (12) and Red Sox (5).
• The walk-off homer was the fifth that the Yankees have yielded in the postseason, tying the Red Sox for the most walk-off home runs allowed all-time.
• Earlier in the game, Correa made a key play to get DJ LeMahieu at home plate as he tried to score on a Brett Gardner single with the score tied at 2. Correa’s throw was clocked by Statcast at 87 mph. That’s nothing new for Correa, who had an average arm strength on his max-effort (top 10 percent) throws this season of 88.8 mph, which was second among infielders who had a minimum of 10 max-effort throws.
• The Yankees used nine pitchers in the game, tying the Major League record for a postseason game. It’s happened recently, also against the Astros. The Rays utilized nine pitchers in their loss in Game 5 of the AL Division Series on Thursday.
• CC Sabathia entered the game out of the bullpen in the bottom of the 10th inning for his third career relief outing (second in postseason play) out of 586 appearances in his 19-year career. He faced one batter -- Michael Brantley, who grounded out to second. Brantley was the player to be named in the four-player package the Brewers traded to the Indians for Sabathia on July 7, 2008.
• Thanks to a wild pitch from Adam Ottavino, the Yankees ended up striking out four Astros in the fifth inning: Kyle Tucker, Brantley (who reached base), Alex Bregman and Yordan Alvarez. Chad Green, Ottavino and Tommy Kahnle combined for the strikeouts, with Ottavino registering two. It’s just the third time in postseason history a team has gotten four strikeouts in an inning. Anibal Sanchez did it in the bottom of the first inning of Game 1 in the 2013 ALCS against the Red Sox for the Tigers, and the Cubs' Orval Overall did it in the bottom of the first in Game 5 of the 1908 World Series against the Tigers.
• The Yankees’ runs came courtesy of an Aaron Judge home run off Justin Verlander in the fourth inning. The slugger has now hit five career postseason homers with exit velocities of at least 110 mph, two more than any other player in the postseason since Statcast began tracking data in 2015.
• Judge’s homer was his first this October but the eighth of his postseason career, tied for second most by a Yankees player in his first 25 career postseason games, behind only Lou Gehrig (9). This was only Judge's 23rd postseason game, so he has until Game 4 to move ahead of the Yanks legend.
• George Springer’s home run off Ottavino to lead off the fifth inning was his 12th postseason homer, an Astros record, breaking a tie with teammate José Altuve. It was also Springer’s 10th postseason homer out of the leadoff spot, setting a record. He was previously tied with Lenny Dykstra.
• Springer’s home run was just the third surrendered by Ottavino since June 13, a span of 173 batters.
• Until Correa’s homer, the only batter to record a hit after the fifth inning was Gardner, who had two -- singles in the sixth and 11tth.