Astros outfielder Kyle Tucker hit his bat in the ground after hitting a one-off pop in the seventh inning of Friday night’s 9-5 win over the A’s in Oakland, frustrated for wasting an RBI chance with teammate Jose Altuve who was on third base.
While A’s shortstop, Elvis Andrus, moves to the right, drifts backwards and regularly catches the pop-up about 10 feet outside the interior dirty in the shallow right field, Altuve catches him off guard. Andrus paused for a moment before realizing Altuve was breaking home, and moved in safely before Andrus’ desperate throw.
That’s right, Altuve passed on a sacrificial fly … shortcut.
The busy game, 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 appeared in its first four record plans on Friday as the leading hit – a role that George Springer has held the previous five seasons.
According to Statcast, Altuve’s sprint speed from third to home is 30.4 feet per second, which means it has flown. A sprint speed of 30 feet per second is considered elite (27 is the MLB average).
Only two games in the season have the Astros played with the kind of emotion and rush – as Altuve’s crazy home indicated – that was largely absent last year when they beat their way to a 29-31 record in the regular season. . Altuve had the worst year of his career at stake, but he is off to an energetic and fast start in 2021.
Altuve’s run in the seventh – one of four he scored on Friday – was the difference in the game before the Astros turned around in the ninth and scored three runs to blow it open.