Carlos Correa Fuels All the Energy In Emotional Houston Return, Turns Back Alex Bregman, Reminds the Young Astros What Matters

Carlos Correa did not just feel the energy. He created it. Fanned it. Fueled it. Pumped it into the Houston Astros’ dugout like an IV for an ailing man. Correa’s first home game back with the Astros turns into a lesson on how one man can still energize a roster, an entire ballpark, even large swaths of a city. Houston’s new and old No. 1 seems to be in the middle of everything.

Again. Like old times. Another big game atmosphere. Another close Astros win — this time Houston 7, Boston 6. Another welcome jolt for and from the city that always loved Carlos Correa best.

Alex Bregman hits a home run in his first at-bat back in the Astros downtown ballpark, the one he doesn’t even recognize as Daikin Park. It looks like Correa’s own Houston homecoming could be overshadowed, lost in the newer old Astro sending a Cristian Javier pitch soaring into the Crawford Boxes, riding high on a triple meat Whataburger and a large Dr. Pepper. But. . . that isn’t happening on Carlos Correa’s watch.

The Astros’ once 20-year-old rookie shortstop turned 30-year-old trade acquisition third baseman will help grab the game back, remind his teammates (at least the few who played with him during his first golden Astros run) what it’s like to have a pumped-up, big game Correa on your side.

“It was fun,” Astros centerfielder Chas McCormick says of The Return. “I remember looking in the outfield and just seeing how packed the stadium was on a Monday night.”

Correa is back. Just bask in the energy.

The man himself felt his own energy veering towards the sentimental side when he came to bat for the first game back in an Astros uniform again in the magical downtown ballpark he previously only knew as Minute Maid. As Houston Astros fans stood, one and all, clapped and roared for him, Correa stepped out of the box to tip his batting helmet to his forever people. And regain his composure.

“I almost felt like crying,” Correa says afterwards, wearing that familiar Astros orange in his under-the-jersey tank top, leaning against a clubhouse wall he’s leaned against dozens and dozens of time. “But I cannot cry before facing a possible Cy Young winner. So keep it together.”

Correa keeps it together and helps expose the Red Sox ace as very human on this night.

His single in the third inning lets the Astros break through against the Boston Red Sox’s Cy Young Award contender Garrett Crochet. Houston’s third baseman doesn’t let a 97 MPH Crocket fastball tie him up and soon the rest of the Astros hitters are feeling it too. After Correa makes it 2-1, Crochet suddenly looks like he needs a catnap (or another nine days of rest).

Boston’s ace will not make it to the fifth inning with Correa cheering and often coming out of the dugout for every big Astros blow. When Christian Walker (more signs of life) smacks a double to the wall to give the Astros the lead, Correa raises his arms after crossing home plate, having scored in Houston again. Correa is the first Astro out of the dugout when Chas McCormick and Ramón Urías homer later. He’s in the middle of everything. Just like the old days, the new days.

Screaming. Pumping his fist. Looking more energized than a guy who just chugged his seventh Red Bull.

“I almost felt like crying. But I cannot cry before facing a possible Cy Young winner. So keep it together.” — Carlos Correa on the overwhelming ovation from Astros fans before his first home at-bat back.

This is Carlos Correa. Sure, these Astros more than proved they can win without Correa over the years. But it sure is a jolt to have him around. Few athletes have ever raised themselves to the Houston moment better than No. 7. Life’s just more exciting with Carlos Correa around. Baseball too.

“I feel very happy,” Cristian Javier, who makes his own return (throwing a new sinker) on this Monday night, of having Correa as an Astro again. “We’ve been friends for a long time and he’s a guy that’s always checking up on you inside and outside, off the field. He’s a leader in the clubhouse and on the field.”

Walking Right Back Into His Happy Place

Carlos Correa felt those emotions just walking down a familiar hallway, taking in much of the same sights and sounds he experienced a decade ago as a 20-year-old about to play in his first Major League Baseball game. “I was a happy man walking down that tunnel,” he says. “It took me back.”

Correa back in an Astros uniform, both the familiar ones and the new styles added since he left, takes every Houston baseball fan back. This is the most unexpected and unlikely of professional sports reunions and Correa being nine road games into his return blunted little of the emotion at Daikin Park on this Monday night.

Correa is home again, and everything about it feels just right.

From the standing ovation before his first at-bat at home of his dreamy second stint with the Astros to the way he got the Astros on the board and charged up his entire dugout. Maybe even more than the ballpark he loves.

In the celebration at the final out, Correa gives a pumped up reliever turned emergency closer Bennett Sousa a finger point, comes across the diamond to give Christian Walker one up close too.

The Return is a success. Did you ever really doubt it?

“It was really special to see how much love the city has for me,” Correa says. “For the seven years that we spent together, winning. a lot of games, having a lot of great memories, a lot of great moments. The love they showed me today was truly special.”

His wife Daniella told him what was coming, having moved back into Houston and set everything up while he started his second Astros life on the road. Daniella couldn’t go anywhere with the kids without someone stopping them and telling them how excited they were to have Carlos back.

“It was really special to see how much love the city has for me. For the seven years that we spent together, winning. a lot of games, having a lot of great memories, a lot of great moments. The love they showed me today was truly special.” — Carlos Correa

Carlos Correa Unplugged

Having Correa in the Astros clubhouse again is not a passive experience. This is still a man who pushes, who energizes. Correa went to Jose Altuve and Houston manager Joe Espada to get their blessing to implement some new things. Both men eagerly gave it and Correa has been reminding all his younger teammates, many of them relatively new Astros, how this near modern baseball dynasty was forged.

“Just things that made the Astros organization what you guys know for the past decade,” Correa tells reporters. “For all the young guys, I think it’s important for them to understand we didn’t get here by just showing up. We got here because we prepare. Because we analyze to take advantage of the flaws of the team we’re facing.”

Alex Bregman doesn’t need the reminder in the other dugout. But he gets it anyway on a night when it looks like he might be the hero story early.

How quickly they forget?

Some foolish fan in the Crawford Boxes even throw Breggy’s return home run back onto the field, like he’s just another opposing player. Bregman draws a rumble of boos in this second at-bat after that home run reintroduction too. Everyone needs to get ahold of themselves. This is still Houston sports royalty.

Just like the two guys who reconnected as easily as George Clooney and Brad Pitt sliding back into a movie together.

“The best part of being back with the Astros is I get to play with Jose Altuve again,” Correa says without hesitation when someone asks what most excites him about his return. “He’s an unbelievable player. But the human side, I get to hang out with him after games. Just to talk shop with him. We talk on the same level. . .

“Something that definitely means a lot. It’s something I definitely missed a lot.”

Who wouldn’t miss nights like this?

The Return is a success. Did you ever really doubt it? How could you? How could anyone?