{"id":96838,"date":"2022-10-14T11:07:11","date_gmt":"2022-10-14T11:07:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/three-takeaways-from-game-2\/"},"modified":"2022-10-14T11:07:11","modified_gmt":"2022-10-14T11:07:11","slug":"three-takeaways-from-game-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/three-takeaways-from-game-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Three takeaways from Game 2"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<aside class=\"gnt_em gnt_em__fp gnt_em_vp__tp gnt_em__el\" aria-label=\"Video - Who's more likely to pull off the massive upset in ALDS: Guardians or Mariners?\"\/>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">Yordan Alvarez might be putting together one of the great postseason performances we&#8217;ve seen again.<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">Then again, he may never get another good pitch to hit.<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">For the second time in as many games, an Alvarez home run singlehandedly flipped the fortunes of the Houston Astros and Seattle Mariners in the American League Division Series, as he hit an opposite-field, two-run homer off Mariners ace Luis Castillo to erase a one-run, sixth inning deficit.  The Astros never trailed again and moved within a game of their sixth consecutive American League Championship Series appearance with a 4-2 Game 2 victory over the Mariners.<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">Alvarez became the first player in major league history to hit a walk-off playoff home run and follow it up with a go-ahead homer in consecutive games.<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">A look at three takeaways from Thursday&#8217;s Game 2:<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\"><strong>Follow every game:<\/strong> Live MLB Scores<\/p>\n<figure class=\"gnt_em gnt_em_img\"><\/figure>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\"><strong>WHY NOT?<\/strong> Padres believe they &#8216;can beat anyone&#8217; \u2013 even the Dodgers<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\"><strong>STAY UP-TO-DATE:<\/strong> Subscribe to our Sports newsletter now!<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"gnt_ar_b_h2\">Your Don, Alvarez<\/h2>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">It was one thing for Alvarez to spank a two-out, three-run, walk-off homer to steal Game 1 from Seattle.  That blast came off Mariners lefty Robbie Ray, who was making an ill-advised relief appearance and grooved a center-cut pitch to the Astros slugger.<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">Thursday was something else entirely.<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">Castillo was cruising, having allowed just five balls out of the infield and nursing a 2-1 lead in the sixth, the lone blemish a Kyle Tucker solo home run.<\/p>\n<aside aria-label=\"advertisement\" class=\"gnt_m gnt_x gnt_x__lbl gnt_x__al\"\/>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">But rookie Jeremy Pe\u00f1a notched his second stage-setting hit in as many games, matching his ninth-inning single from Game 1 that preceded Alvarez&#8217;s walk-off.  This time, it broke a string of 13 consecutive Astros Castillo retired, dating to Tucker&#8217;s third-inning homer.<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">That brought up Alvarez, and Castillo pitched him appropriately, starting him with a 98-mph sinker off the plate that Alvarez fouled off.  He threw him virtually the same pitch, a good two inches off the plate.<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">This time, Alvarez did not miss.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"gnt_em gnt_em_tw\" data-g-r=\"lazy\" data-gl-method=\"loadTwitter\" data-v-id=\"1580676252566163457\" aria-label=\"Twitter Embed\"\/>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">Whereas his Game 1 winner was a missile he yanked to right field, this time he stayed on the ball and spanked it to left field, knowing the short porch in left beckoned.  The ball settled easily into the Crawford Boxes.<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">&#8220;I call him <em>Grande<\/em>,&#8221; Astros manager Dusty Baker said of Alvarez, &#8220;because he always comes up big.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">lead gone.  Series nearly gone.  Next time up, Mariners manager Scott Servais intentionally walked Alvarez, even with first base occupied.<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">Two at-bats too late.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"gnt_ar_b_h2\">Seattle, sunk?<\/h2>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">Imagine waiting 21 years for a playoff berth and only playing one game at home.<\/p>\n<aside aria-label=\"advertisement\" class=\"gnt_m gnt_x gnt_x__lbl gnt_x__al\"\/>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">Well, that&#8217;s the reality facing the Mariners after they had to win a best-of-three series at Toronto, then head to Houston for Games 1 and 2 of this ALDS.<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">Now, their hopes hinge on rookie right-hander George Kirby, fighting a 2-0 deficit and wondering if Castillo can possibly come back from a 104-pitch outing and start Game 5 on three days&#8217; rest.  The flight from Houston to Seattle will give them time to ponder the magnitude of their task.<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">Like Kirby prevailing in a win-or-go-home game.<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">And trying to topple future Hall of Famer Justin Verlander, who they rocked in Game 1 but let off the hook with Alvarez&#8217;s blast, in Game 4.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"gnt_em gnt_em_anc\" id=\"gnt_atomsnc\" data-g-r=\"lazy\" data-gl-method=\"loadAnc\" aria-label=\"Newsletter signup form\"\/>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">And then figuring out who might start and win a Game 5 back in Houston.<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">The offense against that was so potent Verlander and in eliminating the Blue Jays made Houston starter Framber Valdez work, but they only managed four hits in Game 2. Their peerless reliever, Andr\u00e9s Mu\u00f1oz, got got yet again by Alex Bregman, yielding an RBI single in the eighth inning after giving up a two-run homer to him in Game 1.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"gnt_em gnt_em_fo__bet-best\" aria-label=\"Scores and odds from Tipico\" data-g-r=\"lazy\" data-gl-type=\"comment\"><!--@pre<iframe class=gnt_em_fo_if src=\"\/tangfrag\/sports\/gaming\/bet-best?prm-embedded&prm-teamid=26&prm-gnteamid=2981&prm-league=MLB#fhp-assetid=10491652002\" loading=lazy sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-popups allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox allow-forms\" title=\"Scores and odds from Tipico\"><\/iframe>--><\/aside>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">What worked before is misfiring against Houston.  And they&#8217;re almost out of time.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"gnt_ar_b_h2\">Jeremy Pena: Playoff ready<\/h2>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">None of this is possible without Pe\u00f1a&#8217;s two-out single in Game 1. Thursday, he had two hits and scored twice, including a daring dash home on Bregman&#8217;s hard-hit RBI single.  Oh, and he&#8217;s been playing a near-flawless shortstop, continuing to fill the massive void left by the departure of Carlos Correa last winter.<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">\u201cWhen you get to this point,\u201d Baker said, \u201cyou can either be a wide-eyed rookie or you can be sometimes a wide-eyed veteran that doesn&#8217;t do any more than a rookie does.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">Pe\u00f1a has been anything but wide-eyed, a great omen for this Astros playoff run.<\/p>\n<p><img class=\"gnt_em_gl_i\" data-g-r=\"lazy\" data-gl-src=\"https:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/presto\/2022\/10\/13\/USAT\/4194cd9c-9f7c-4d09-95cf-afdecfa1d9c0-USATSI_19226624.jpg?crop=3844,2163,x0,y0&amp;width=660&amp;height=372&amp;format=pjpg&amp;auto=webp\" data-gl-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/presto\/2022\/10\/13\/USAT\/4194cd9c-9f7c-4d09-95cf-afdecfa1d9c0-USATSI_19226624.jpg?crop=3844,2163,x0,y0&amp;width=1320&amp;height=744&amp;format=pjpg&amp;auto=webp 2x\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" width=\"660\" height=\"372\"\/><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Yordan Alvarez might be putting together one of the great postseason performances we&#8217;ve seen again. Then again, he may never get another good pitch to hit. For the second time in as many games, an Alvarez home run singlehandedly flipped the fortunes of the Houston Astros and Seattle Mariners in the American League Division Series, &hellip;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"> <a class=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/three-takeaways-from-game-2\/\"> <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Three takeaways from Game 2<\/span> Read More &raquo;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":102143,"url":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/yankees-astros-alcs-position-by-position-breakdown\/","url_meta":{"origin":96838,"position":0},"title":"Yankees Astros ALCS position by position breakdown","date":"October 19, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"It's time for the Astros League Championship \u2026 er, the American League Championship Series. 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