Astros insider: Carlos Correa, Jose Altuve give Dusty Baker a birthday to remember

Dusty Baker folded himself into a chair in his office at Minute Maid Park for pregame availability Tuesday afternoon, his 72nd birthday, and immediately fielded questions about MLB’s foreign substance crackdown, which was released publicly earlier that day. 

That night, Carlos Correa and Jose Altuve made sure he got a better one. 

The duo teamed to bring the Astros back from the brink in a 10-inning, 6-3 win over the Rangers, with Correa delivering a last-gasp, game-tying home run in the ninth and Altuve’s walkoff grand slam the icing on the birthday cake.  

After Altuve crossed home plate and made it through the cascade of water poured by his euphoric teammates, he found Baker. The second baseman hugged the manager and delivered a message: “Happy birthday, Skip.”

“I was like, ‘Yeah, that certainly was a happy birthday,’” Baker said. “Boy, that was some finish. And, you know, we did to them what they did to us three times up in Texas. And that’s a bad feeling. Certainly didn’t want that feeling.”

That’s right: The Rangers inflicted a similar cruel fate on the Astros last month in the series in Arlington, a three-game Texas sweep comprised of two decisions in extra innings and a five-run, seventh-inning comeback. 

Houston appeared destined for a fourth consecutive loss to Texas on Tuesday, down to the game’s final out when Correa approached the plate. Rangers reliever Josh Sborz sized him up and delivered a curveball in the dirt. Correa didn’t bite. He didn’t budge on the next three pitches, either, two called strikes on fastballs up in the zone and another for a ball outside. 

The fifth pitch, a slider, targeted the outside edge of the strike zone. Correa sent it screaming into the throngs of hollering fans in right field. Sborz turned to watch and bent with his hands on his knees.  

“That’s the sign of a battler,” Baker said. “You got one strike left, or else they’re going to be jubilant and our crowd is going to go home sad and we go home sad. And when I saw that ball go up in the air towards right, I knew that it had a great chance of getting out of here. And then I saw Joey Gallo climbing the wall and I was like, nah, I don’t think he gon’ catch that one.”

Added starting pitcher Lance McCullers Jr.: “Carlos, it just feels like every time he gets an opportunity to capitalize on big moments, he does.”Altuve was not to be outdone.

The Rangers scored a two-out run in the top of the 10th inning to take a 3-2 lead and shift the pressure onto the Astros offense, which had flailed with runners in scoring position to that point (1 for 5).

With Chas McCormick as the Astros’ runner on second, Demarcus Evans walked Myles Straw and Jason Castro to load the bases. Altuve was expecting Evans to be aggressive in the zone, so he swung and missed at the first pitch, a cutter down and away. Then, Altuve said, “I got back to my plan.”

The next pitch was indeed the sweet-spot meatball Altuve had been expecting, and his swing gave the Astros an unexpected payoff on what began as an unexpectedly languid night at the plate.

“We weren’t having a good game offensively but I think this is the team we are,” he said. “We expect things for each other through the last out.”

Altuve’s walkoff grand slam was the first for the Astros since Brian Bogusevic hit one Aug. 16, 2011, against the Cubs. Baker could not remember if he had borne witness to another in his decades-long managerial career. He could recall how he charted the ball’s flight from Altuve’s bat over left field, and the sense of relief and elation that washed over him.

“The people went home happy, we went home happy,” he said. “I certainly went home happy because my record on my birthday is terrible.”

Maybe his luck will change, as the Astros’ did Tuesday night.