By now you’ve probably seen the fireworks from the eighth inning of the Astros 5-4 win over the Texas Rangers in Game 5 of the American League Championship Series.
It happened in the bottom of the eighth inning. Astros pitcher Bryan Abreu nailed the Rangers' Adolis García with a fastball in the left arm with a runner on first and a 4-2 Texas lead. It was García’s first at-bat since his sixth-inning three-run home run that gave Texas a 4-2 lead.
As soon as he was hit, García turned and started to go after Astros’ catcher Martín Maldonado and had to be held back. Both benches and bullpens emptied as tempers boiled over. Abreu and García were ejected, as was Astros' manager Dusty Baker.
Yordan Alvarez was seen on the broadcast talking to García while holding him back. García was asked after the game what Alvarez was saying to him. Through a translator, García said that Alvarez was trying to calm him down and told him he didn’t think it was on purpose. He said Alvarez told him to look at him and try to calm down.
When asked if he regretted how he responded, especially considering how the game turned out, García said in that moment he wanted to win and he wanted the team to him, so he felt bad. But he also said Abreu could have injured him.
“It was just the heat of the moment,” García said through a translator when asked why he turned toward Maldonado instead of Abreu. “I just reacted to being hit by the pitch. I just reacted towards him as soon as I felt the hit. It was just a thing that happened in that instant.”
Astros manager Dusty Baker was asked after the game if he thought the hit-by-pitch was intentional.
"We got a two-run game and you explain to me that the guy just hit a three-run home, but that was a mistake that he hit a three-run homer. That ball was down and in and he wasn’t trying to go down and in. We pitch him up. We pitch him up and in,’” Baker said. “Anytime you’re throwing a projectile 90 miles per hour, some of them are going to get away.”
Baker went on to say he’s just happy the Astros came back and won.
“Gods were with us because we didn’t do anything wrong and I can understand how he could take exception because nobody likes to get hit, but you’re certainly not going to add runs on in the ninth inning in the playoffs and we’re trying to win the game,” he said.
As for Rangers’ manager Bruce Bochy, he said, "Who knows what the intentions were,” but also pointed out how García drilled the sixth-inning home run and was then hit by Abreu.
After the game, umpire crew chief James Hoye told a pool reporter Abreu was ejected for throwing with intent, and García was tossed for being the aggressor.
“The guy hits a three-run homer; the next time up he gets smoked,” Bochy said. “I’d be upset, too, if I was Doli. But like I said, it just took too long to get things back in order, that’s what was frustrating me.”
Rangers closer José Leclerc gave up a single to pinch-hitter Yainer Diaz to open the Houston ninth and walked pinch-hitter Jon Singleton at the bottom of the lineup. The 5-foot-6 Altuve, playing in his 101st postseason game for Houston, then pulled an 0-1 changeup over the left-field fence, just beyond the glove of a leaping Evan Carter.
Adolis García's sixth-inning home run
The Rangers led 4-2 after García's three-run homer in the sixth off Houston starter Justin Verlander. He took 16 steps up the line as he watched the ball and pounded his chest, and was more than halfway to first when he empathically spiked his bat and started jogging.
The 30.5-second home run trot was the fourth-longest of García's big league career, according to MLB Statcast.
“He's a power hitter,” Maldonado said. “He can do whatever he wants.”
Bad blood between Astros and Rangers
On July 26 in Houston, Alvarez got hit by a pitch right after Alex Bregman homered in the first inning of that series finale, and Texas' Marcus Semien took a retaliatory plunk in the third.
Semien hit a go-ahead, two-run homer in the fourth, and exchanged words with Maldonado. An inning later, Semien scored on a grand slam by García, who was face to face with the catcher when the benches cleared, though no punches were thrown.
Asked if the July incident could have played a part in García's reaction, Maldonado said, “Could be. If you still had that in mind this late in the year. That's up to him. We turned the page.”
The Astros contended they were focused on erasing a two-run deficit in the ninth and wouldn't have wanted to put extra runners on base.
Texas had two runners on with no outs, then runners at the corners with one out, but didn't score after Josh Jung and Nathaniel Lowe struck out.
“I think given the situation I think it’s pretty clear that there’s no intent there,” Houston starter Justin Verlander said. “I don’t think anybody is mad about him pimping a homer. It was the biggest homer in his career, quite honestly. Obviously he thought something might happen, though, because it was a pretty quick reaction.”
If the Astros were mad at García's celebration, the slugger said they shouldn't have been.
“I think we’re in the postseason. It’s the moment,” said García, who has four homers this postseason. “You hit a ball like that, you’re going to celebrate. It’s where we’re at right now. If they’re trying to react to that, I don’t think that’s the correct way.”