Houston Astros: Correa Calls his Dramatic Game Five Walk-Off

Houston Astros shortstop Carlos Correa reportedly called his shot before hitting a walk-off home run in the ALCS game five victory over Tampa Bay.

Ever since the official MLB report of the Houston Astros sign-stealing scandal became public, the franchise has lived with a target on its back. Nobody has better embodied that target other than superstar shortstop Carlos Correa.

Correa has been, by far, the most outspoken member of the Astros in fully embracing the role of the villain.

And with Thursday’s dramatic walk-off home run, Correa has continued to write this story surrounding the villainous Astros.

Whether it’s the long stare of admiration at home plate, the display of bravado rounding the bases, or the hand up against his ear asking if the doubters have anything else to say, Correa lives up to this role.

Yet, this story gets better. Following this dramatic 4-3 ALCS victory over the Tampa Bay Rays, Astros manager Dusty Baker gave Astros’ cynics more to disapprove of.

During Baker’s postgame press conference, the skipper revealed that Correa called his walk-off home run in the dugout before his at-bat.

“He came up to me and said walk-off,” said Baker.

After watching the first two pitches of his ninth-inning at-bat against Rays closer Nick Anderson, Correa drilled a 96 mph fastball into dead center. Of course, Anderson is considered one of the premier closers in today’s game. During the regular season, Anderson pitched to a 0.55 ERA in 16.1 innings.

With this home run and game five victory, the Houston Astros appear to have new life. Houston went down three games to none before storming back to victories in games four and five.

Game six is scheduled for 6:07 pm ET on Friday with Framber Valdez starting for Houston and Blake Snell for Tampa Bay.

It should be noted that the 2004 Boston Red Sox are the only team in MLB history to overcome a 3-0 series deficit.