ARLINGTON – Kyle Tucker certainly isn’t to blame for the Astros’ lack of offense in the first two games of the American League Championship Series. He’s not the only player on Houston’s offense who has had trouble getting to the plate in the last two games, but the star players are coming into the spotlight more prominently in both good times and bad.
Tucker, the Astros’ most valuable player in 2023 and who expects to get some down-bottom AL MVP votes, is 2-for-22 in the postseason with seven strikeouts, including going 0-for-8 in the first two games of the ALCS season against the Rangers. That’s why Houston manager Dusty Baker said Tuesday he’s considering moving the right fielder down in the batting order for Wednesday’s Game 3 – a must-win game for Houston. The Astros trail 2-0 in the best-of-seven series.
“It’s not the first starter to have had a tough playoff run,” Baker said. “Tuck will get going. We had a good conversation today. And for a temporary situation, I might move him down the order and try to take a little off of him. So we’ll see. And there are a few people we need to get going, or we all need to get going.”
Tucker reached fifth in the lineup in Game 1 of the ALCS and moved up to third in Game 2, just ahead of Yordan Alvarez. Tucker went 0-4 in each game. In the regular season, Tucker made 56 starts at third and fifth in the order and 43 starts in the mopup spot, but that year he never finished lower than fifth.
“Anything we can do to try to win games is fine,” Tucker said. “We have conversations all year long about things like that and other things in general, but I just try to focus on going out there and making good plays on defense and trying to move runners and get guys in. We’ll see how tomorrow goes and hopefully we’ll put some runs on the board and pitching and defense will play a big role in that too.”
So what position will Tucker bat in Game 3 with Max Scherzer starting for the Rangers? Baker mentioned that Michael Brantley (20 of 54, including postseason) had more success against Scherzer than Tucker (1 of 6), meaning Tucker could fall to sixth place, behind Jose Altuve, Alex Bregman, Alvarez, Jose Abreu and Brantley.
“I wrestle at night and I don’t sleep, sometimes I try to find different lineups,” Baker said. “That’s all I do.”
Astros hitting coach Troy Snitker said Tucker is probably trying to do a little too much on offense in the postseason after hitting .284 with 29 homers, 37 doubles, five triples and an AL-best 112 RBIs in the regular season. Tucker has been one of the most dynamic hitters in the AL this year.
“You can’t keep guys like that down for long,” Snitker said. “He’s had some difficult games early on, but we expect him to make some adjustments, get it right and come back for the rest of this series and be as good a hitter as he’s been all along.”
Tucker had the hardest hit ball in Game 2 that wasn’t a home run when he reached first base in the first inning. The exit velocity was 106.4 miles per hour. Tucker hasn’t outwardly shown frustration yet, but it’s there.
“It’s tough, especially because I didn’t really do much and we lost the first two games,” Tucker said. “Of course it’s never just one thing that affects the game one way or another. If you can contribute, whether it’s moving people or pushing people, then that could… make the difference in the game. It’s an out, but as long as it helps get a run in is huge, especially in the playoffs. However I can do it or get a hit or something, at this point in the year it all counts.”
Tucker posted a 1.096 OPS in the Astros’ regular season wins and a .609 OPS in losses, so his impact on the lineup is huge.
“He’s a great hitter and he’s going through a rough patch right now, but we still have a few games left and if he can perform it will be huge,” outfielder Chas McCormick said. “It’s not just him, though. I am too. It’s a few other people. I think we are in good shape. I’ve seen these guys hit really well, so I think we can do the same in the next few days.”