Astros outfielder Kyle Tucker pounded his bat into the ground after hitting a one-out popup in the seventh inning of Friday night’s 9-5 win against the A’s in Oakland, frustrated he had wasted an RBI opportunity with teammate Jose Altuve standing on third base.
As A’s shortstop Elvis Andrus, shifted to the right side, drifted back and routinely caught the popup about 10 feet beyond the infield dirt in shallow right field, Altuve caught him off guard. Andrus paused for a beat before realizing Altuve was breaking for home, sliding in safely ahead of Andrus’ desperation throw.
That’s right, Altuve scored on a sacrifice fly … to the shortstop.
The hustling play, which left Tucker with an unexpected RBI and gave the Astros a 6-2 lead, had Altuve and his teammates smiling from ear to ear. Altuve reached in his first four plate appearances on Friday as the leadoff hitter — a role George Springer held down the previous five seasons.
Altuve’s sprint speed from third to home was 30.4 feet per second, according to Statcast, which means he was flying. A sprint speed of 30 feet per second is considered elite (27 is the MLB average).
Only two games into the season, the Astros are playing with the kind of emotion and hustle — as Altuve’s mad dash home indicated — that was largely absent last year, when they slogged their way to a 29-31 record in the regular season. Altuve had the worst year of his career at the plate, but he is off to an energetic and fast start in 2021.
Altuve’s run in the seventh — one of four he scored Friday — was the difference in the game before the Astros batted around in the ninth and scored three runs to blow it open.