Excited Correa engages in rare bat flip

LA's Puig, Jansen unfazed; Astros SS: 'We'll play with a lot of swagger'

October 26th, 2017

LOS ANGELES -- If you mash a huge homer to hush 54,293 fans at Dodger Stadium in the Fall Classic in extra innings, there's going to be some type of celebration. It'd be hard not to show any emotion.
And All-Star shortstop did just that. Overjoyed with emotion after launching a blast in the 10th inning of the Astros' 7-6, 11-inning win over the Dodgers in Game 2 of the Fall Classic on Wednesday, Correa gazed at his 427-foot moonshot, let out a scream and tossed his bat high in the air before beginning his trot.
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Other than during the World Baseball Classic, Correa said he had never flipped his bat. Correa's home run followed a tiebreaking leadoff homer from -- the 16th occurrence of back-to-back homers in World Series history and the first time that has happened in extra innings.
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Now, he has a moment that will be etched in the Astros' history.
"Like a friend of mine once said, I don't know why my bats are so slippery," Correa said jokingly of his bat flip.
Correa's friend is , the Dodgers' charismatic outfielder, who is known to do a few a bat flips himself. Puig has tossed his bat this postseason after hitting doubles, homers and even after drawing a walk.
"If they hit a homer, they're going to flip over there, too," Correa said. "So we're going to go out there and play the way we play the game. We'll play with a lot of swagger, and let them know we're here."
Whether it's perceived as showing off or just enjoying the moment, Puig took no offense to Correa's toss.
He encourages it.
"I loved it," Puig said. "It was a little bit higher than the bat flips I normally do; he was happy and that's the way you should play in the World Series."
Dodgers closer , who gave up a single to Correa in the eighth, said he wasn't bothered about Correa's flip, either.

"That's the way baseball is," Jansen said.
Puig later hit a leadoff homer in the 10th that began a late Dodgers rally, but he didn't flip his bat. Instead, he calmly laid it down and trotted around the bases.
"Correa put a good swing on it and he does what he does," Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. "And our guy kind of went the other way. So I'm not too concerned about that."

Puig tipped his hat to Correa.
"Not everybody gets to play in a place like this," Puig said of the World Series presented by YouTubeTV. "It's good that he [Correa] plays like that and it's good that Latino players are able to contribute that way. He wasn't batting too well and he was only getting a few hits and when he got the home run, it was a moment for him to be happy. I'm glad to that he was able to celebrate that."