HOUSTON \u2014 Managers maintain they never think ahead, but Thursday afternoon at Daikin Park allowed Joe Espada the rare chance to break character. During the second inning, Philadelphia Phillies outfielder Nick Castellanos lifted a sinking line drive into right field, conjuring Espada\u2019s memories of a far more consequential fly ball hit to that same spot.<\/p>\n
On Nov. 5, 2022, with a ballpark nearing bedlam and a ballclub closing in on a championship, Castellanos chased a first-pitch slider from Ryan Pressly. The baseball traveled 219 feet toward the right-field line. Kyle Tucker loped into foul territory, caught it and completed the second World Series championship in Houston Astros history.<\/p>\n
Tucker still has the baseball stowed away somewhere in his home for safekeeping. Asked on Friday whether he\u2019s ever tried to wrestle it away, Pressly deadpanned, \u201cI\u2019m just glad he caught it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHopefully,\u201d Pressly added from the third-base dugout, \u201cwe can re-create that in Chicago.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pressly and Tucker teamed for the most meaningful out in the history of Houston\u2019s downtown ballpark. On Friday afternoon, they entered it as visitors and two vestiges of a transformative Astros winter like few before it.<\/p>\n
Trading both players to the Chicago Cubs strayed from most of Houston\u2019s standard operating procedure during its golden era. Paring payroll and procuring prospects took precedence, prompting wonder whether that run could be waning. Finishing the first half 48-33 has offered an authoritative answer.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019ve done that for how many years now? Ten? Every time they lose somebody, they always seem to replace (them) with somebody that\u2019s really good and pick up the baton right behind them and keep winning,\u201d Pressly said. \u201cIt\u2019s what they\u2019ve been doing for the past decade now.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tucker and Pressly helped to prolong this successful era, a fact the Astros hoped to accentuate during a pregame feting Friday night. It forced two players into the sort of spotlight they\u2019ve never been comfortable embracing. Both Tucker and Pressly are pleasant people, but prefer for their play to speak for itself. Returning to Houston made it impossible.<\/p>\n
Four cameras followed Tucker during his walk in from a loading dock located, fittingly, in the right-field corner. A swarm of at least 15 reporters greeted both him and Pressly inside the third-base dugout before batting practice.<\/p>\n
\ufeff<\/p>\n
Specks of gold were sprinkled throughout the right-field stands, where a sizable group of fans wore crowns in honor of \u201cKing Tuck.\u201d One young girl outside the third-base dugout held a sign proclaiming, \u201cTucker, you\u2019re still my bestie!\u201d Tucker acknowledged it before mingling with many of his former coaches before Chicago\u2019s batting practice.<\/p>\n
The Astros played Tucker\u2019s longtime walk-up song \u2014 Rich Homie Quan\u2019s \u201cWalk Through\u201d \u2014 before his first at-bat. Tucker stepped out of the batter\u2019s box to tip his helmet toward both a roaring crowd and the applauding Astros dugout.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of really good memories here, and we had a lot of success playing in this city and on this field, so it\u2019s cool,\u201d Tucker said. \u201cThe biggest thing is being around the guys in those moments.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tucker and Pressly will be forever intertwined, but parallels between their two trades are almost nonexistent. The Astros traded Pressly as a pure salary dump, influenced in part by his deteriorating relationship with general manager Dana Brown. Houston offloaded $8.5 million of Pressly\u2019s $14 million salary as it attempted to lower its luxury tax payroll. It also entered Friday with the lowest bullpen ERA in the American League in Pressly\u2019s absence, though the veteran reliever has had a fine season with Chicago.<\/p>\n