NEW YORK -- What’s old is new again for the Astros.
On Friday night, amid a familiar playoff-style environment in the Bronx, Jose Altuve and Carlos Correa powered a victory over the Yankees -- just like old times.
Correa led off the 10th inning with a two-strike single off Devin Williams, bringing home Altuve to break a 2-2 gridlock. Three batters later, Taylor Trammell launched a no-doubt home run into the right-center-field seats, setting the stage for Josh Hader to close out a dramatic 5-3 win.
The foundation for Houston’s 10th-inning breakthrough was laid hours earlier, in a pregame meeting.
“Going over Williams today in the hitters’ meeting, Carlos brought some really good pointers on Williams and his approach and how we should approach him,” manager Joe Espada said. “So I felt really good with him coming to the plate about him facing Williams.”
Correa had faced Williams twice before, both with the Twins. In their most recent showdown on June 13, 2023, Correa launched a walk-off home run against Williams’ signature changeup.
“You know that if he’s going to get beat, he’s going to get beat with his best pitch,” Correa said. “That’s the changeup. He doesn’t want to get beat with his [fastball].”
On his first pitch in the 10th inning, Williams yanked a fastball to the backstop, sending Altuve -- the automatic runner -- to third base.
“I knew he was not going to go back to it,” Correa said of the fastball. “He threw me a really good [changeup] 1-1, and then I had to adjust. I knew I had to extend through the zone in order for me to get it elevated. And that’s what I did.”
From the dugout, Trammell watched. The center fielder hadn’t shown much power with the Astros, entering Friday slugging just .373 in 75 at-bats. With his spot in the order looming, Trammell studied Correa’s approach and recalled their conversations from earlier in the week.
“For me, when I see [Correa], he walks his talk,” Trammell said. “Since he’s gotten here, the at-bats have just been amazing. Him being able to stay through that changeup, give us the lead. … When you see a guy who’s leading the team, he’s doing it. A lot of good pointers from him.”
In seven games with the Astros, Correa is hitting .379 (11-for-29). While the reunion hasn’t yet set in for Correa -- not until he returns to Houston on Monday -- it certainly feels like he hasn’t missed a beat.
While Correa and Trammell helped the Astros’ lineup break through in extra innings, Altuve jump-started Houston right out of the gate.
In the first inning, Altuve climbed to the plate amid a chorus of boos. The Astros star -- a longtime nemesis around these parts -- quickly invited more jeers from the Bronx faithful. After seeing Jesús Sánchez lace a first-pitch single with one out, Altuve jumped on a first-pitch sweeper from Yankees starter Cam Schlittler, clobbering it over the left-field fence for a two-run home run.
“We just ride the bus when he shows up and does what he does,” Espada said. “He loves playing in this stadium, the environment. There’s something about him, when we come here, we all feel it. We are expecting -- and it’s not as easy as he makes it look -- but we expect him to go out there and step up.”
It was Altuve’s eighth career home run at Yankee Stadium, including the postseason.
“When you’re on this stage, it’s just different,” Correa said. “You take it to a different gear. You want to show up for your teammates. You want to show up for yourself. I feel like he thrives in situations like that. We’ve seen it for so many years now. If I’m the fans, I’d just stop -- I’d try to make it feel like a Spring Training game.”
It was far from a Spring Training game inside Yankee Stadium, which whipped into a cauldron when the Bombers tied the game on an Aaron Judge single off Hunter Brown in the sixth inning. But from there, Bennett Sousa, Bryan Abreu and Hader quieted the Yankees’ bats, with Hader throwing a season-high 36 pitches (24 strikes) over two innings for the win.
Houston has won three of four since suffering a sweep at Fenway Park to begin a nine-game road trip. It has Correa to thank for breaking the ice.
“Carlos is an unbelievable talent,” Brown said. “... That’s what you expect out of a player like that.”