Yankees-Astros: Jose Altuve gets last laugh, teammates rip off jersey following walk-off home run

The New York Yankees and Houston Astros wrapped up their three-game series Sunday afternoon at Minute Maid Park in Houston. And the rival clubs continued trading barbs. The back-and-forth began with Aaron Judge’s jersey pull in Saturday night’s game to mock Jose Altuve’s jersey gesture from the 2019 ALCS. 

Altuve didn’t want to remove his jersey following his ALCS walk-off home run against the Yankees, and many used that incident as evidence to support speculation that the Astros used electronic buzzers to steal signs in 2019. Altuve has denied it vehemently, saying he was “too shy” to remove his jersey. Major League Baseball found the Astros guilty of stealing signs (with the illegal assistance of cameras in center field) throughout the 2017 regular season and postseason, and early in 2018 as well.

The on-field squabbling continued Sunday when Astros catcher Martín Maldonado responded to Judge’s trolling. After Maldonado hit a 371-foot home run to right field over Judge’s head to tie the game at 1-1 in the third inning, he gestured to his unbuttoned jersey. Take a look, paying close attention to when Maldonado rounds third base:

After the game, Maldonado told MLB.com’s Brian McTaggart that his jersey pull was for the opposite reason of Judge’s. “It was a little hot,” Maldonado said. “I was trying to get some air inside my shirt.” His response feels like the epitome of ‘two can play this game.’ 

For what it’s worth, Judge avoided direct confirmation for what exactly his Saturday night jersey tug was referring to, instead saying it was simply because Minute Maid gets cold with the roof shut. 

“Whenever they keep the roof closed here, it’s a little chilly. I was just telling my teammates to button up a little bit,” Judge told reporters, including MLB.com’s Bryan Hoch. Apparently, this whole thing boils down to a whole lot of temperature discrepancies at Minute Maid.

Following Maldonado’s homer, Yankees outfielder Tim Locastro crushed an opposite-field home run (his first with the Yankees) to give New York back the lead in the fourth inning. 

But, that’s not what we want to focus in on. After the homer, Locastro was draped with a jacket because you know, like Judge said, it gets cold in Houston’s air-conditioned stadium. Now, they’re having fun with it. Take a look:

The Yankees kept piling on the runs thanks to a Gio Urshela RBI double in the seventh inning followed by a three-run Gary Sanchez home run in the eighth. That extended New York’s lead to a comfortable five-run advantage, at 7-2 entering the ninth inning.

That lead quickly disappeared when the Astros got the last word with a six-run ninth inning. The cherry on top for Houston? Altuve was the one to play the part of walk-off hero. He capped off the comeback with a three-run, walk-off home run off an 85-mph curveball from Chad Green. The ball went over the head of Locastro in left field.

The real statement-making play wasn’t even Altuve’s homer, it was the celebration thereafter where Altuve, or his teammates more specifically, ripped off his jersey once he crossed home plate.

Despite dropping the series finale, the Yankees won 4-0 on Friday and 1-0 on Saturday. It was the first time the Astros had been shut out in back-to-back games since May 1-2, 2018, also against the Yankees.

Heading into the All-Star break, the Yankees are 4 1/2 games behind the first-place Red Sox in the AL East, while the Astros sit in first place in the AL West with a 3 1/2 game lead over the Oakland A’s. The two clubs won’t play each other again in the regular season, and the Yankees finish with a 4-2 regular-season record over the Astros in 2021.