Latino Power in DC Helps Astros Soar Back Home, One Win From Chip

WASHINGTON — It was a night for the Latinos in Game 5 of the World Series as one Cuban, two Puerto Ricans and one Dominican, all whom took charge and sent the baseball over the wall and into the Nationals Park stands with home runs. As Marly Rivera of ESPN put it, Sunday night felt like the “Caribbean” World Series. Three of the four Latinos are on the Houston Astros roster and were able to help the Astros conquer a Game 5  victory with a 7-1 win to give their team the 3-2 series lead.

Yordan Alvarez and Carlos Correa split a pair of two-run home runs to give the Astros a 4-0 lead early in the game. For Alvarez, at 22 years old, it would be his first postseason home run.

“Very happy with the home run, ” Alvarez said after the game. “Obviously today all my teammates were saying today is your day. Today is your day. And it happened so obviously very happy about it.”

As Alvarez paced himself around the bases, he took a breath of fresh air, as he was able to take the burden of a World Series slump off his shoulders. Understandably so, though. The World Series is the biggest stage baseball as to offer, but the rookie from Las Tunas, Cuba held high expectations for himself and felt the need to find his power surge as AJ Hinch penned Alvarez in the designated hitter slot.

“Correa and Díaz were the ones that really said that this is going to be your day, this is going to be your day,” Alvarez said reflecting on moments before the game. “And Correa said it again after we got into the clubhouse that, see, I told you, this is the day.”

Correa was 2-for-16 in the World Series before hammering a slider to right-center field. It would be Correa’s 11th home run and 32nd RBI of his postseason career. His passion and love for the game and his teammates transpired as he celebrated with his teammates and coaches with an abundance of smiles and laughter in the visiting dugout. The only sound that could be heard across the stadium was the Astros and their fans letting the Nationals and all those in Nationals Park that they are one win away from being crowned World Series champions.

“So on the way here from the plane I was talking to him (Jose Altuve) and I was like, Jose, we need to get our swagger back,” Correa said. “We’re getting hits and we’re not even getting hyped up. We’re scoring runs and it feels like a regular game. This is the World Series. This is the last series of the season. We need to play like it. We need to give everything we’ve got.”

A dire effort by Juan Soto could not, once again, lift his offense over Cole whose stellar outing resulted in nine strikeouts after stretching through seven innings before Joe Smith took the ball in relief. The Nationals fall back in the series after failing to win a game in front of their beloved fans in DC.

“I think in the ninth inning there were fans screaming behind me they’re with us. One guy, he said, I can’t be in Houston, but I’ll be there watching. He said, You guys can do this. That’s what’s good about these fans. They’re behind us,” Nationals manager Dave Martinez said about his loyal fans as he prepares to lead his team to Houston in an attempt to slugout two wins, in hopes of being crowned World Series champions.