Bregman, Correa (twice!) go deep in Game 1
The Astros’ offense, which has struggled for most of the season, awakened in Monday’s American League Division Series opener at Dodger Stadium with help from the long ball, including a two-homer game from Carlos Correa, to overcome an early three-run deficit. Houston took Game 1, 10-5.
The combination of Alex Bregman’s solo homer and Correa’s two-run shot evened the score at 3 in the fourth inning after Oakland pulled ahead on Khris Davis’ two-run homer and Sean Murphy’s solo shot in the previous two innings. Correa homered again in the seventh inning to extend Houston’s lead to 8-5 and cap his second career two-homer postseason game. He also knocked an RBI single in the ninth inning to make it 9-5.
Bregman, who hit four home runs in last year’s postseason, took advantage when A's starter Chris Bassitt hung a breaking ball on the outer half of the plate. The resulting drive to left, which was hit at a 32 degree launch angle an estimated 370 feet, bounced off the top of the fence support in left-center field. It had a .260 expected batting average, according to Statcast. It was barely out, but it would’ve been a home run in 16 of 30 Major League parks. Oddly enough, it marked the fourth consecutive year Bregman has homered on Oct. 5.
Kyle Tucker grounded Bassitt’s next pitch through the middle for a single. Correa took the first pitch high and the second pitch low before feasting on Bassitt’s 2-0 cutter over the plate and crushing a 421 foot drive to center with a 106.3 mph exit velocity.
Correa’s second homer went to nearly the same part of the park, this time off a 96.1 mph fastball inside from Lou Trivino. This one was nearly as impressive, a 105.4 mph drive that traveled 408 feet. The ball surprised A’s center fielder Ramón Laureano, who climbed the center-field fence in vain as Correa’s drive kept carrying.
Correa’s home runs moved him past Jose Altuve for second on the Astros’ all-time postseason homer list with 14, one behind George Springer. Bregman now ranks fourth with 11.
Correa’s other two-homer playoff performance came in his first postseason as part of a four-hit game in Game 4 of the 2015 AL Division Series, won by the Royals in a 9-6 slugfest. The 26-year-old became the first Astros player at any position, and the first shortstop with any team, among the 19 Major Leaguers with multiple multihomer games in his postseason career. Correa’s 14 home runs and 38 RBIs in the playoffs also pushed him past Albert Pujols in both categories for most by a player before his 27th birthday; Pujols had been tied with Manny Ramirez at 13 homers.
Bassitt allowed just six home runs in 63 innings in the regular season, an average of .857 homers per nine innings, which ranked seventh best among qualified AL pitchers this season. Two of those homers came from the Astros on Aug. 29 in Houston, where Tucker and Josh Reddick took him deep.