Gomez Makes Astonishing Admission On 2015 Astros Postseason Home Run Against Yankees

Carlos Gómez was feeling nostalgic about his time with the Houston Astros during a recent conversation on the MLBPAA's Legends Territory show with Erik Kratz and Scott Braun.

Gómez wasn’t an Astros player for long. The team acquired him from Milwaukee in a deadline deal in July of 2015 for Brett Phillips, Domingo Santana, Josh Hader, and Adrian Houser. He was gone in August of 2016 after the Astros designated him for assignment.

But, in between, he gave Astros fans one significant memory in the 2015 postseason.

The Astros got into the American League Wild Card game that season and was facing the New York Yankees. It was a big deal for the Astros. They had not been to the postseason since losing to the Chicago White Sox in the 2005 World Series.

It was a big deal for Gómez, too. The Yankees were one of those teams that he admits get “that fire” in him. His goal going into that game was clear.

“We need to beat them bad,” Gómez said. “Let’s go make them look bad.”

There was a problem. Gómez pulled an oblique muscle about a month prior to the game. He went two weeks without playing. He missed the final three games of the season against Arizona.

And, based on what was happening the Astros weren’t going to put him on the roster for the Wild Card game.

He learned about it that morning and convinced them otherwise, even though he knew, as did the team, that he wasn’t 100 percent.

“I said, ‘You traded for me because when I’m in the lineup this thing is better,’” Gómez said. “I don’t know what you guys are gonna do, but I’m gonna be on the field today and I’m going to do the best that I can.”

Gómez said he got a shot that deadened the pain in the oblique after he arrived at 11 a.m. He couldn’t feel a thing.

He knew he didn’t have much in him. To some degree, it was his Kirk Gibson moment, the hobbled Los Angeles Dodger who hit a pinch-hit home run in Game 1 of the 1988 World Series.

“I’m walking to the plate and I say, ‘I’ve only got one swing,’” he said. “If I have three at-bats today, I’m going to take three swings.”

One of those swings came in the fourth inning, as he faced Yankees starter Masahiro Tanaka and hit a solo home run to give the Astros a 2-0 lead. Houston went on to win the game, 3-0, to advance to the American League Divisional Series against Kansas City.

Gómez admits he was swept up in the emotion of the moment.

“I’m walking down the line and I’m looking at the Yankees like, screaming, ‘This guy wasn’t supposed to play today,’” he said. I felt like a champ in the dugout. I was emotional I went inside (the dugout) and my teammates didn’t see it but that day I cried.”

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