Astros: Carlos Correa continues his clutch streak

As the Houston Astros entered Tuesday’s game with cooler bats, the score was close until a two-run home run in the top of the ninth from Carlos Correa put Houston ahead of the Los Angeles Angels. Correa has hit a few speed bumps to start the season, as his teammates have been exceeding an OPS of 1.000, but the soon to be free agent is looking to rise his stock.

Zack Greinke hit the bump for the sixth game of the season, and although his only runs given up were off a two-run home run in the first inning, the right-hander was dealing. Through seven innings of work, the ace fanned four, while surrendering one walk and five hits. Outs by contact have been Greinke’s best friend and kept this game close until the Astros’ offense came around.

Although not starting hot, Correa continues his clutch hitting for the Astros.

Whether it be his walk-off in the 2019 ALCS or in the 2020 ALCS, Carlos Correa seems to know when to hit at his best. While putting the Astros ahead in the top of the ninth with his first homer of the season, the right-hander entered Tuesday’s game with an OPS south of .700, which is understandable early in the season. As he looks to bounce back from a rough 2020 regular season, Correa knows he was built for clutch moments:

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The 2021 season has been nothing but perfect for the Astros, from effective pitching to high scoring games, this team is shutting people up. While the boos continue, the team is now 5-1, and their only loss was by one run.

Correa is now looking forward to the day off, while he hasn’t seen his wife and dogs more than one night in the past six weeks. Coming off a spring training with a poor record that people somehow cared about, the Astros have been doing the most at smashing the ball with three home runs in Tuesday’s matchup with the Angels.

There has only been one ninth inning this season, where Houston hasn’t scored a run, and it was against a position player in Oakland. As Yordan Alvarez continued to rake and run out doubles, Chas McCormick made a quick appearance on the base paths, but the return of Michael Brantley is anticipated for Thursday’ game.

As Wednesday is a travel day, the Astros will begin their first home stand in a three game set against the Oakland Athletics on Thursday. While the starting pitchers for the series are Cristian Javier, Lance McCullers Jr. and Jose Urquidy in that order, Cole Irvin will hit the bump first for the A’s on Thursday at 7:10 p.m.