HOUSTON — At the crack of the ball off Todd Frazier’s bat — a sound heavier and more authoritative than any the Yankees have produced off Justin Verlander in the postseason — it seemed as if everyone who had squeezed into Minute Maid Park on Friday night was consumed by a singular thought.

“I thought holy hell,” Houston Astros Manager A. J. Hinch said. “It’s going to leave the yard.”

“I thought it was gone,” Frazier said.

“I thought homer,” Verlander said.

But as the ball sailed toward the deepest recesses of center field, with two runners aboard, one out in the seventh inning and the Astros clinging to a three-run lead — as well as their playoff lives — center fielder George Springer gave chase.

Tracking the ball as it approached the wall, Springer leapt and caught it as he crashed into the padding, bringing the capacity crowd to its feet and providing the signature moment in the Astros’ 7-1 victory over the Yankees, which forced a seventh, and deciding, game in the American League Championship Series.