Houston Astros Secure Fifth AL West Crown in Six Years on Altuve Homer
A part of every American League West title in the club's history, José Altuve's first-inning lead-off home run is all the Houston Astros needed Monday. Securing their fifth crown in six seasons, the Astros shutout the Tampa Bay Rays for not only the division but also a first-round bye.
It was only fitting Altuve kickstarted the path to celebration with a facet of his game he's known best for. On his 25th home run of the season, the second baseman gave Houston the lead — never losing it — five pitches into the game. Altuve also flashed the leather Monday evening.
Luis García backed Altuve with five-scoreless innings on 86 pitches, throwing 50 of them for strikes. The righty allowed just two hits but issued four walks to his four strikeouts.
Rookie right-hander Hunter Brown saw his first bullpen action behind García, tossing three frames on 47 pitches. Brown surrendered two hits and a walk but struck out three, improving his Major League ERA to 1.20.
Houston's offense complimented the lights-out performance off the rubber. Yordan Álvarez drove in a run in the sixth inning, and Alex Bregman followed with a pair of runners scoring on 38th double of the season.
Héctor Neris closed the door on the Rays, adding two strikeouts to the nine generated on the night. And as have all leads shown in the past, manager Dusty Baker eyed a defensive shift, deploying Mauricio Dubón in center field and Chas McCormick moving to left field for Álvarez.
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