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They had to scratch and claw to get their wins, and that included Game 3. Houston and Seattle could not score a single run through 17 innings until Astros shortstop Jeremy Peña hit a solo home run to center field in the top of the 18th. Alex Bregman nearly extended the lead with a shot to left field later in the inning, but the ball hit the top of the wall and came back into play. Bregman was stranded on second base as the Astros head to the fifth inning with a 2-1 lead. After two scoreless innings, Jeremy Peña launched a solo home run to left field to break the tie and give the Houston Astros a 2-1 lead.
After the Houston Astros took the early lead, the Philadelphia Phillies answered in the bottom of the first when Kyle Schwarber tied the game with a lead-off home run to right field. After a brief time working in the coal mines, Brown returned to college and obtained his masters in education. He previously coached at Bessemer Academy where he led his team to the State playoffs , the first time in school history. Currently, Brown is preparing for his first year as the Head Baseball Coach at Grissom High School in Huntsville, Alabama.
Watch: Jeremy Peña Breaks Tie with Solo Home Run in Game 5
Rookie Jeremy Pena's solo home run off Mariners reliever Penn Murfee provided the lone tally in Houston's 1-0 victory that clinched a spot in the AL Championship Series for the sixth consecutive season. Never before had a postseason game gone scoreless for as long as Game 3 did. Its 18 innings tied a postseason record with three other games, its 6-hour, 22-minute run time the third longest ever. The four combined walks and zero errors exemplified that this wasn't just a battle of offensive ineptitude but rather a clinic in run prevention. The game resembled another from earlier this postseason, when Cleveland and Tampa Bay were scoreless until the 15th, when rookie Oscar Gonzalez hit a walk-off home run to clinch the wild card series for the Guardians.
Those questions aren’t being asked anymore; with Peña, the position appears to be in good hands for years to come. As Peña rounded the bases, he pointed his right index finger high toward the sky, offered a “who, me? ” shrug to his teammates, then angled his fingers in the shape of a heart -- a message to his mom. PHILADELPHIA -- The beauty of Jeremy Peña’s sensational postseason is that the Astros’ newcomer has spent none of it looking over his shoulder, except perhaps while making another terrific defensive play.
Peña's huge night adds new chapter to superb rookie season
It was a quiet afternoon for both teams with the American League East foe slapping six hits en route to one run. Even better for the Astros, the sweep allows them to reset their rotation instead of using ace Justin Verlander in a potential Game 4 against Seattle. With the ALCS set to begin Wednesday, Verlander and the Astros' No. 2 starter, Framber Valdez, can pitch on extra rest. "This at-bat," Pena said of his home run, "was not going to be possible if our pitching staff didn't keep us in the ballgame. They dominated all game. Their pitching staff dominated all game."
Brown played for Hueytown High School in Hueytown, Alabama, and went on to the University of Alabama, where he played for the Alabama Crimson Tide baseball team. At Alabama, he won the Johnny Bench Award as the nation's top collegiate catcher. The content on this site is for entertainment and educational purposes only.
Are the Astros Wanting to Move On from Gurriel?
All night, "Ju-li-o" chants permeated T-Mobile Park, which 47,690 packed to see the Mariners' first playoff team since the 2001 group that won 116 regular-season game but lost in the ALCS. While this Mariners core is likely to return to the playoffs in the coming years, the Astros are still the team through which the AL runs. Brown was the team's third-ranked catcher behind Kurt Suzuki and Rob Bowen and was unlikely to make the major league roster.
The rookie shortstop clubbed his 21st home run of the season, scoring José Altuve for a first-inning, two-run lead against the Tampa Bay Rays. SEATTLE -- This day, two decades in the making, seemed like it was never going to end. "We're expecting more of the same," Baker said, and it's certainly a reasonable expectation. Since MLB expanded to divisions in 1969, no team has advanced to the ALCS six consecutive times. Pena, the 25-year-old rookie who took over at shortstop upon the free agent departure of Carlos Correa, had provided the necessary run in the top of the inning. He left it 1-for-8 after Murfee hung a slider, and Pena pummeled it out to center field.
Jeremy Peña's go-ahead home run
The Astros went down in order in the second and third and were in need of a boost. Jeremy Peña, who just won his first Gold Glove before Game 3, provided that boost via his bat in the top of the fourth. In a 2-2 count, Peña turned on a hanging curveball from Noah Syndergaard and launched his fourth home run of the postseason. Brown was selected in the 2002 Major League Baseball Draft in the first round by the Athletics, at the behest of Billy Beane and Paul DePodesta, over the strong objections of the scouting department. He is most remembered for a minor-league game in 2002 where he, planning for a double, slipped and fell on first base, and while scrambling to get back to base, was notified that he in fact hit a home run.
Peña collected three hits in four trips to the plate, complementing a two-hit afternoon from Altuve at the top of the order. The righty drove in a third run on a seventh-inning single to score Chas McCormick. The Houston Astros have done it once again, and baseball fans are not necessarily shocked. It feels like that is the minimum every year the Astros make it to the postseason.
Jeremy Scott Brown is an American former professional baseball catcher with the Oakland Athletics. "You could tell by his brightness in his eyes and his alertness on the field that he wasn't scared and he wasn't fazed by this," Astros manager Dusty Baker said. "Boy, he's been a godsend to us, especially since we lost Carlos, because this could have been a disastrous situation had he not performed the way he has." Your favorite teams, topics, and players all on your favorite mobile devices. Build your custom FanSided Daily email newsletter with news and analysis on Houston Astros and all your favorite sports teams, TV shows, and more. The future of the Astros at shortstop was a frequently-discussed topic last spring, with uncertainty over how the club would soldier on following Correa’s departure to the Twins in free agency.
The deep drive gave Peña nine extra-base hits in this postseason, tying the third-most by a rookie in a single postseason behind Houston’s Yuli Gurriel and Rays outfielder Randy Arozarena . Houston grabbed the lead behind Peña’s fourth-inning homer, with the youngster mashing a hanging curveball from Phils starter Noah Syndergaard into the left-field seats. In Peña’s mind, the challenge was never to fill someone else’s shoes; it was all about being the best version of himself.
Excellent pitching has been the key for Houston, Philadelphia and San Diego, all of whom have advanced. Cleveland can grab the final championship-series spot and face the Astros with one more victory against the Yankees. Houston matched that number, led by Luis Garcia, the right-handed starter who finished with five shutout innings, allowed two hits and zero walks, struck out six and locked down the 18th to earn the victory. In the game's first half, the story centered around a pair of great starting pitching performances, by Seattle rookie George Kirby and Houston right-hander Lance McCullers Jr., who was battling an illness.
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