The ALCS got wild with big swings, bigger emotions, and a full-on benches-clearing moment. In the sixth inning, Adolis García crushed a home run and made sure everyone knew it, with a slow stroll, bat slam, and loud celebration. That sparked tension between him and Astros catcher Martín Maldonado, who had words with both García and Marcus Semien as García crossed the plate. The energy from their past beefs and hit-by-pitch incidents carried over quickly. In the next inning, Astros pitcher Bryan Abreu plunked García on the first pitch. García immediately turned to confront Maldonado, shoving him and setting off a chaos of players rushing, shoving, and shouting. Coaches held guys back, and even umpire footwork was under scrutiny after nearly stepping on García’s bat.
Umpires huddled, decided Abreu hit García on purpose, and ejected him. Astros manager Dusty Baker erupted, refused to leave at first, then got tossed himself. Once the field cleared, the Rangers had a chance to add insurance runs, but Astros reliever Ryan Pressly shut it down. In the ninth, the Astros were down 4-2 with one on when Jon Singleton, in his first postseason at-bat, worked a huge walk. That brought up José Altuve. The Rangers stayed off-speed, and Altuve made them pay. He drilled a changeup that just cleared the wall for a three-run homer, flipping the lead and the game. After rounding the bases, Altuve’s first move was to find Singleton and thank him. Closer José Leclerc looked stunned. Dusty reemerged from the clubhouse to celebrate. Astros took the lead and the momentum in one of the most chaotic and emotional games of the postseason.