George Springer sets Astros nation abuzz with his walk-off homer

George Springer is becoming Mr. Reliable for the Houston Astros!

It was just another typical day, despite giving the mock Algebra 1 STAAR test at school today. My cousin Peter and I were supposed to go to the game, but he had to cancel. My son and I got ready to go to the game after I got some great news about my talk show called Talking Stros, which is moving to Sports Talk 790. We got stuck in traffic but made it to the game before first pitch. George Springer made everything better.

Before sitting in our season ticket seats, we explored the new centerfield area and went up the tower. We took some great pictures and watched the first two innings out there. As long as you don’t have a fear of heights, you can stand out there all night. Torchy’s Tacos looked awesome. I’ll try the food next time.

The game, it was a fast-paced game, until the starting pitchers left the contest. Then it appeared to become a revolving door on the mound. Until the 13th inning, the Mariners only scored two runs on a Jean Segura homer off Charlie Morton. After pitching six innings last night, it’s hard to find too much fault with his performance. When Morton left the game, he trailed 0-2.

Enter Springer.

Luckily, George Springer has been one of the offensive standouts through three games. He tied the game in the 7th inning with a two-run double. Speaking of Springer, I called his leadoff homer on the Talking Stros broadcast before opening day. If you didn’t hear our last edition of Talking Stros on KTXF, you can listen below.

Earlier in the game, Springer was playing right field so Jake Marisnick could get the start in centerfield. He made a great play robbing Danny Valencia of an extra-base hit, despite losing the ball in the lights. The dramatics at the end made it look like a better catch. However, that wasn’t the play of the game.

Chris Devenski pitched four shutout innings while striking out seven Mariners in relief. Will Harris came into the game and pitched a scoreless 12th inning. Jandel Gustave, making his first appearance of the season, walked three runners to load the bases. With a hit involved, the Mariners finally had a lead 3-2. Then the 25th man came in, that was Brad Peacock.

Peacock retired the next three hitters, striking out two while displaying a 95 mph fastball. This set up the dramatics in the 13th inning. Yulieski Gurriel grounded out, followed by an Evan Gattis walk. Josh Reddick is mad at himself for getting the second out on a foul popup. Nori Aoki was able to chop a single down the third base line. Then steps up Springer.

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Going for the win.

Chase De Jong has not appeared in an MLB game before last night. He was up because another reliever was on paternity leave. The Mariners had used all of their arms in the bullpen, except for the rookie. De Jong pitched the entire 13th inning, allowing the Astros to get two runners on for Springer. De Jong was a little wild, but the Astros were down to their final strike. Springer got ahold of a breaking ball and sent it 367 feet to the first row of the Crawford Boxes.

This walk-off homer led to the Astros winning the first three games for the first time since 2001. While it’s only three games, it is a statement to the league that the Astros are for real. I was watching on my Xfinity app on my phone, but unfortunately, my MLB At Bat app alerted me before I was able to see the homer. It was still a thing of magic.

Next: Astros: The Plan is Working…Two Games In

George Springer will create many magical moments this year. Astros Twitter was going crazy after that hit, with #SpringerDinger trending. It was a great game, but we have one more versus the Mariners.

***Stats from MLB.com***