Saturday, November 23, 2024

Astros pitcher is first Mexican to win two World Series games

Houston Astros pitcher José Urquidy became the first Mexican pitcher to win two World Series Major League Baseball games on Wednesday after playing a key role in his team’s 7-2 victory over the Atlanta Braves.

The 26-year-old Mazatlán native struck out seven batters over five innings in Wednesday’s game at Minute Made Park in Houston. The series is now tied at 1-1.

Urquidy’s first World Series victory came in Game 4 of the 2019 series between the Houston Astros and the Washington Nationals. The Nationals won that series 4-3.

“It means a lot,” Urquidy said after Wednesday’s game. “This is something that I have worked for a long time, when I was a kid, when I [played] in Mexico. I’m living the dream,” he said.

“I know there’s a lot of Mexican people … in the stands tonight … supporting me. It makes me feel even more motivated and focused knowing that I have to do a good job, and it makes me proud to represent the country that I’m from.”

The only other Mexican pitchers who have played in World Series game wins are the Los Angeles Dodgers’ Fernando Valenzuela (1981), the Detroit Tigers’ Aurelio López (1984) and the Dodgers’ Víctor González and Julio Urías (2020). However, none of those pitchers has played in two World Series game victories.

A select group of just 12 Mexican-born baseball players have won a World Series title, including González and Urías last year. Urquidy, who debuted in the Major League in 2019, now has the opportunity to become the 13th.

Game 3 of the series will take place in Atlanta Friday while the seventh match, if required, is scheduled for next Wednesday.

With reports from Milenio and Associated Press 

Have something to say? Paid Subscribers get all access to make & read comments.
CJNG drug lord Cristian "El Guacho" Gutiérrez Ochoa poses for a photo holding a rooster

CJNG leader ‘El Guacho’ arrested in California after faking his own death

0
As prosecutors closed in on the cartel, one leader faked his death and fled to live in the U.S. under a new identity.
A group of migrants gather in the courtyard of a compound in Oaxaca, shortly after their rescue by government officials

174 migrants, including 41 minors, rescued in Oaxaca

0
Officials reported that some of those rescued were being held against their will.
Celebrity chef Guy Fieri, left, and rocker Sammy Hagar, right, holding boxes and a bottle of their brand of tequila, Santo as they pose for a publicity photo

Did someone steal 24,240 bottles of Guy Fieri’s tequila?

3
Details are still unclear, but what is known is that a delivery of US $385,000 of Santos tequila – a brand founded by Fieri and Sammy Hagar in 2017 – has vanished en route from Jalisco.