2015 Five Worst Moments In Houston Sports
By Yoni Pollak
Oct 12, 2015; Houston, TX, USA; The Houston Astros dugout reacts during the eighth inning against the Kansas City Royals in game four of the ALDS at Minute Maid Park. Royals won 9-6. Mandatory Credit: Thomas B. Shea-USA TODAY Sports
1. ALDS Game 4: Astros Blow Lead Against Royals
Like 99.9 percent of Houston Astros fans, I never expected to be watching my boys in the playoffs.
I was thinking I’d be writing about the Astros in my top moments of 2016 or 2017.
Boy was I, and every other Astros fan, pleasantly surprised in April when the Astros started the season 18-7. Though many thought they’d come plummeting down to earth, that crash never happened.
The Astros clinched the second AL Wild Card slot on the last day of the season and traveled to Yankee Stadium for a win-or-go-home game against the Yankees. With Dallas Keuchel on the mound, the Yankees had no chance and the Astros were headed to KC for the ALDS.
The good guys were on a roll and started the series up 2-1 with a win-and-advance game four at Minute Maid Park.
Game four was Carlos Correa’s breakout game to the world through seven innings. The eventual AL Rookie of the Year hit a solo shot in the third inning, a go-ahead RBI double in the fifth inning and then a two-run home run in the seventh inning to give the Astros a comfortable lead heading into the eighth inning.
With a four-run lead and six outs to go, manager A.J. Hinch opted to leave Will Harris in the game to start the inning. Harris started the inning allowing three straight singles to load the bases. After another single and the lead knocked down to just three runs, Hinch pulled Harris in favor of Tony Sipp.
The usually-reliable Sipp allowed a single to Eric Hosmer to cut the lead to just two runs. He then induced what should have been a huge double play ball that was headed to the hero, Correa. Instead, the ball took a nasty bounce and ricocheted just off the top of Correa’s glove and into left field, tying the game at six.
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A few more runs and outs later and the Astros were deflated.
What looked to be the series-clinching game turned out to be the most devastating inning of every player’s career. Instead of celebrating at home, they headed to Kansas City where they eventually lost game five and were sent home.
That eighth inning will forever be entrenched in the minds of Astros fans. It sucked to watch and it was gut-wrenching. However, the season as a whole was a huge success and it is something that they will build on and learn from for the rest of the decade.
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