Houston Astros radio play-by-play man Todd Kalas lost his mind on Yordan Alvarez’s walk-off home run to beat the Mariners in Game 1.
Alvarez sent all of Minute Maid Park into a frenzy, so it should come as no surprise that the broadcast booth was much of the same.
With Robbie Ray on the mound, Alvarez launched an inside pitch into the right field bleachers. It was a no-doubter, and he pimped it as such.
The radio broadcast, courtesy of Kalas, was arguably the best of the year so far for Houston.
“Kiss it goodbye!”
Alvarez was mobbed by teammates before he could even reach first base.
Yordan Alvarez sends Astros fans home happy
Alvarez was gifted an opportunity thanks to Mariners manager Scott Servais’ pitching change, in which he put in Ray. In three starts against Houston this year, Ray had an ERA over 10. That includes some not-so-great numbers against Alvarez. The left-handed hitter hit .321 with a .998 OPS against lefties this season.
Servais defended his decision after the game.
“We talked about it coming into the series. We talked about it pregame today. I looked at it in the 7th inning and said, hey, this could happen. So that was the plan going in. End of the day, you have a plan, we still got to execute it,” Servais said.
Well, Scott, the plan clearly did not work. Ray only gave up four home runs against left-handed hitters this season, so it’s not like he makes a frequent habit of it. However, as a starting pitcher, he doesn’t have a ton of experience entering into high-pressure situations like this one.
It was a curious choice, to say the least. And it led to disastrous consequences for the Mariners on Tuesday night.
