By Do Hyoung Park | an hour ago
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HOUSTON – Here’s what Carlos Correa had to say about his poor performance in August, when he played with plantar fasciitis pain and a record-breaking number of double-play grounders en route to some of the worst season numbers of his career:
“Hopefully we make it to the playoffs and you can keep going there and it will be worth it.”
• ALDS Game 3 presented by Booking.com: Tuesday, 4 p.m. ET/3 CT on FOX
It was really worth it for the twins.
Correa, one of the greatest October players of all time, put his forgotten regular season behind him to become a Titan again in the postseason, tying David Justice for third place in American League/National League history in postseason RBIs with an RBI double and two-run single that led the Twins to their 6-2 victory over the Astros in the deciding Game 2 of the AL Division Series on Sunday night at Minute Maid Park.
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“I’ve said it before: He’s like Iron Man,” Kyle Farmer said. “He puts on the playoff mask and is unstoppable.”
Manager Rocco Baldelli added: “We’ve always heard all the sayings and things: When the lights come on and the bright lights come on, there are some guys who are giants in the light. He is one of them. That’s what he is.”
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That made it 63 postseason RBIs for Correa, whose heroics overtook Hall of Famers David Ortiz and Derek Jeter and is now tied with David Justice and only Bernie Williams (80) and Manny Ramirez (78) on the leaderboard lies.
“It’s really humbling,” Correa said. “I grew up watching these guys play and idolizing them, practicing the jump shot like Jeter, trying to hit home runs and walk-offs like Big Papi, just running the bases back home in Puerto Rico. For me, surpassing them in RBIs really means a lot.”
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After Minnesota’s poor performance in its Game 1 loss, the club made a strong statement that it can compete and dominate anyone on any given day in these playoffs, including the reigning World Series champions.
They have star Pablo López, who became the third pitcher in club history to throw at least seven scoreless innings in the postseason, joining Johan Santana in Game 1 of the 2004 ALDS and Jack Morris in the legendary Game 7 of the 1991 World Series.
And they have their superstar shortstop. For these moments they paid him $200 million.
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“We always joke and say, ‘That’s what we brought him here for,'” Ryan Jeffers said. “Mr. October.”
Correa’s two-out, first-inning RBI double against Astros starter Framber Valdez gave the Twins their first lead of the series after trailing from start to finish in Game 1. When Minnesota had a chance to extend its lead in the fifth, Correa came up again with a two-run, bases-loaded single, extending Minnesota’s lead to 5-0 and knocking Valdez out of the game.
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“I hit a lot of sinkers before the game,” Correa said. “I would swing under it even if I missed under it. I didn’t want to hit a ground ball in this scenario. I made too many double plays in the regular season. I don’t want to bat for them in the playoffs.”
This kind of clutch tap in a moment like this has become almost expected from Correa, to the point that Donovan Solano, the runner-up for the play, said Jose Altuve – who knows Correa better than anyone – actually turned to Solano and said , if Royce Lewis got the base, Correa would get away with the knock.
“He told me that before this happened,” Solano said. “As soon as [Lewis] I took a walk, I looked [Altuve] and he smiled at me. So, okay. It happened like that. “When we retire and you have a job somewhere, I want to be on your staff,” I said [Altuve]. Because he was already prepared. He knew.”
The timing of Correa’s big hit couldn’t have been more significant for the Twins. Although the loser of Game 1 of a Division Series with the current 2-2-1 format won the series only 28% of the time, if that series was tied after two games, the club goes to Games 3 home having 4 won the series 28 of 42 times (67%).
All told, Correa went 3-for-4 with two doubles, a single, a walk and three RBIs, giving him an 8-for-15 mark in the Twins’ first four games of the 2023 postseason.
“He was great tonight,” Astros centerfielder Chas McCormick said. “We need to position him a little better and make sure he doesn’t take control of the game because that’s what he wants to do.”
If only it would stop – because this postseason has already been a true highlight of Correa’s exemplary defense and baseball instincts.
There was the play in Game 1 of the Wild Card Series in which he stunned the Blue Jays by sending a soft grounder into no man’s land and making an off-balance all-or-nothing throw home to catch Bo Bichette the dish. There was Vladimir Guerrero Jr.’s game-winning pickoff at second base that he orchestrated in Game 2. There was José Abreu’s deke that stunned the veteran as he tried to roll to second on a wild pitch in Game 1 of the ALDS.
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And all of this with a bat in hand.
“I think he’s the kind of player where sometimes it’s amazing and surprising to see things that no one else can see,” López said. “When he’s on defense, he just makes incredible plays. When he’s on offense, he wants the big moments to make a difference. He can really get a team going.”
Correa said Astros fans came up to him and his family as they had dinner and breakfast before Game 1 in Houston to wish him luck. Then they gave him a big cheer when he was announced in the Twins’ starting lineup before Game 1.
As these two games progressed in Houston, the cheering for Correa began to wane and the enthusiasm waned. Then boos mixed in with the cheers. At the end of Game 2, he was always greeted by loud boos.
“You cheer for your team, right?” Correa said. “I’m no longer on their team. After everything I’ve done for the organization, that’s a thing of the past. Now I have made progress. They have also made progress. And I understand that. They want their team to win,” and they want me to hit every time.
But he doesn’t, because he is October Correa – and it took some time for Houston fans to remember that October Correa is inevitable.
Except now, it’s at their expense.