Astros cameraman Kyle Tucker hit the ground after coming out of a pop-up window in the seventh inning of Friday night’s 9-5 win over the A’s in Oakland, frustrated by losing a RBI opportunity with teammate Jose Altuve placed at third base.
As Elvis Andrus, in the short distance, moved to the right, drifted back and routinely grabbed the pop-up window about 10 feet beyond the dirt of the shallow depth of field, Altuve grabbed it. unexpected. Andrus paused for a while before realizing that Altuve was breaking home, slipping safely in front of Andrus’s desperate release.
True, Altuve scored on a sacrifice fly … in the short field.
The boisterous play, which left Tucker with an unexpected RBI and gave the Astros a 6-2 lead, made Altuve and his teammates smile from ear to ear. Altuve made his first four appearances on set as a lead hitter on Friday, a role George Springer held for the previous five seasons.
According to Statcast, Altuve’s sprint speed from third to home was 30.4 feet per second, according to Statcast, which was flying. It is considered an elite sprint speed of 30 feet per second (27 is the MLB average).
In just two games of the season, the Astros play with the kind of excitement and haste, as indicated by the crazy house of Altuve, which was largely absent last year, when they headed to a record from 29-31 in the regular season. Altuve had the worst year of his career, but he started with energy and speed in 2021.
Altuve’s run in the seventh (one of four he scored on Friday) was the difference in the game before the Astros beat the ninth and scored three runs to open it.