HOUSTON — At the crack of the bat, Jose Altuve bounded away from first, tracking Carlos Correa’s one-out liner into the right-center-field gap in the bottom of the ninth inning. After a few steps, Altuve’s legs were churning and as he sharply rounded second base, he picked up the sign from the third-base coach Gary Pettis, who was furiously waving — his arm like a ramped-up windmill — Altuve toward home.

It was an audacious gamble for the Houston Astros, but one that the circumstances demanded.

Justin Verlander had delivered a throwback performance, striking out 13 and throwing 124 pitches, but it had not been enough to shake the Yankees, who had kept the score tied at 1-1. And so even as right fielder Aaron Judge raced into the gap to cut off Correa’s hit and delivered the ball to the rifle-armed shortstop Didi Gregorius, neither Pettis nor Altuve was deterred.

Around third Altuve came, sneaking a quick peek toward Gregorius and losing his helmet as he kept running.

If it were a midweek night in mid-July, Gregorius might have delivered a strike and Altuve would have been out from here to Galveston, but on Saturday night — in the caldron of playoff baseball – Gregorius did not. He bounced his throw, catcher Gary Sanchez could not corral it, and Altuve slid home, his left hand touching the plate.