HOUSTON — At the crack of the bat, Jose Altuve bounded away from first, tracking Carlos Correa’s one-out liner into the right-center-field gap in the bottom of the ninth inning. After a few steps, Altuve’s legs were churning and as he sharply rounded second base, he picked up the sign from the third-base coach Gary Pettis, who was furiously waving — his arm like a ramped-up windmill — Altuve toward home.
It was an audacious gamble for the Houston Astros, but one that the circumstances demanded.
Justin Verlander had delivered a throwback performance, striking out 13 and throwing 124 pitches, but it had not been enough to shake the Yankees, who had kept the score tied at 1-1.