It was just like old times for the Astros at Yankee Stadium.
With the game on the line, Carlos Correa drove in Jose Altuve from second base to lead off the bottom of the 10th, as the Astros beat the Yankees 5-3 in 10 innings.
And although it was Correa that returned to The Bronx on Friday with the Astros for the first time since 2021, it was Altuve who remained Public Enemy No. 1, as evidenced by the reception from the Yankee Stadium faithful.
The two stars from the sign-stealing scandal-tarnished 2017 World Series championship team have been reunited, as the Astros try to get back to the postseason.
Altuve homered in the first to give Houston the lead and then scored the winning run in the 10th.
“When you’re at this stage, it’s just different and he takes it to a different gear,’’ Correa said. “I feel like he thrives in situations like that. I’ve seen it for so many years. If I’m the fans, I stop [booing]. If I’m a fan, I try to make it feel like spring training.”
Altuve drew loud boos whenever his name was announced throughout the game, while the reaction toward Correa was more subdued for most of the game — even after Correa’s go-ahead hit.
“I didn’t think they booed me that much,” Correa said. “They booed me more when I was with Minnesota. I think it’s because Altuve gets all the attention.”
Correa didn’t exactly escape the spotlight during his three-plus seasons in Minnesota, but the Twins don’t do as much to draw the wrath of The Bronx like the hated Astros, who knocked off the Yankees in the ALCS in both 2017 and 2019, as well as in 2022, following Correa’s departure for Minnesota.
The duo of Altuve and Correa was as big a reason as any why the Yankees came up on the short end of both of those series.
And the Yankees have done nothing to even the October rivalry between the two teams, regardless of who’s on either roster.
Still, there’s something about having the 35-year-old Altuve back together with Correa, 30.
“It’s interesting to see,’’ Gerrit Cole said of Correa prior to Friday’s game. “It’s a good fit. He knows the city and the team well.”
Cole spent 2018 and 2019 with the Astros before signing his record-breaking deal with the Yankees before the 2020 season.
“He and Jose are best friends,’’ Cole said. “They both have great baseball minds. The group they had down there was really sharp.”
Some would say too sharp.
Even without Correa, they won the World Series in 2022 — after knocking out the Yankees — reached the ALCS in 2023 before getting eliminated in the wild-card round last season. Correa made just one playoff appearance with the Twins, and they couldn’t get by the wild-card round in 2023.
After a mediocre first half of the season with Minnesota — with an OPS of .704 prior to the trade — Correa entered Friday on a hot streak, 9-for-22 with three extra-base hits over his previous five games.
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