Adolis Garcia punctuates go-ahead three-run homer with a bat spike for the ages

The Texas Rangers looked to be on life support in the sixth inning of Game 5 against the Houston Astros. After consecutive dispiriting losses in Games 3 and 4, Texas was in desperate need of a turnaround on Friday night. But instead it was the Astros, once again, who came up with the big hit, this time an RBI single from Jose Abreu in the top of the sixth that chased Rangers starter Jordan Montgomery from the game and put Houston ahead 2-1. A Globe Life Park crowd that had been desperate for anything to cheer for over the past few days was back sitting on its hands. A third straight game — and, more than likely, any chance of reaching the World Series — seemed about to go up in smoke.

And then Adolis Garcia flipped everything on its ear. The Rangers offense finally showed some signs of life against Justin Verlander, putting runners on the corners with a Corey Seager double and Evan Carter single. That brought up Garcia, who to that point had been thoroughly dominated by the Astros’ future Hall of Famer, peppering him with fastballs upstairs that the big-swinging outfielder couldn’t catch up to. This time, though, Verlander didn’t quite get it up enough — and Garcia parked it into the seats in left-center for a go-ahead three-run bomb.

But Garcia didn’t just settle for a trot around the bases. This was the moment of his baseball life, and he was going to make the most of it:

Okay, so it may not have been quite the form that Rhys Hoskins showed on his homer against Spencer Strider in last year’s NLDS, but it works all the same. We can only hope that the bat spike has become the cutting edge of October home run celebrations.