Chirinos an unlikely slugger for Astros in World Series

WASHINGTON (AP) — Astros manager AJ Hinch had so little faith in Robinson Chirinos' bat that he pinch hit for the catcher in a big spot early in the World Series.

Seems unlikely he'd do it again.

Chirinos has homered in consecutive games, emerging as a most unlikely slugger for Houston when the team needed it most. A night after cracking a solo shot off the left field foul pole, Chirinos crushed a two-run drive to the seats nearby Saturday as the Astros beat the Washington Nationals 8-1 to tie the World Series at two games apiece.

"I put myself in a good position," Chirinos said. "I was swinging at strikes. I was staying to the middle of the plate, to the middle of the field, and I did it again tonight."

Hinch credited Chirinos for his role behind the dish helping rookie starter José Urquidy — and his big bat at it.

"Any time there's a good pitching outing, you've got to credit the catcher for getting him through a few situations and just calming him down from the very beginning," Hinch said. "(Plus) he hit the two-run homer, huge for us."

Chirinos slugged 17 home runs this season but showed no pop in the AL Championship Series. He went 0 for 15 in six games against the New York Yankees, and it wasn't much of a surprise when Hinch pulled him for Kyle Tucker with two on and two outs in the sixth inning of World Series Game 2.

Tucker struck out, backup catcher Martín Maldonado oversaw Houston's seventh-inning meltdown, and the team flew to Washington trailing 2-0. Chirinos said players talked on the flight about keeping it simple and not trying to do too much.

"No swings for the fence," Chirinos said.

Maybe he wasn't trying to go deep, but Chirinos hit Houston's only home run in a 4-1 Game 3 victory Friday and got to celebrate it with his son , David. He told his...

source https://www.chron.com/sports/article/Chirinos-an-unlikely-slugger-for-Astros-in-World-14565541.php