HOUSTON – Before leaving Minute Maid Park, Houston Astros assistant hitting coach Alonzo Powell poked his head into manager A.J. Hinch’s office.
“You know you’re Nostradamus, right?” Powell said.
Hinch, sitting at his desk, looked up at his coach, beaming. Hours before first pitch, with the Astros facing elimination, the manager had indeed predicted the score of Game 6 of the American League Championship Series.
“I walked into the coach’s room and said, ‘7-1, and we’re closing Giles,’” Hinch recalled. “Verlander to Peacock to Giles, and we’re winning 7-1.”
Sure enough, Hinch followed that script, using Justin Verlander, then Brad Peacock, then Ken Giles.