José Altuve has helped the Houston Astros inch one step closer to the team’s third straight World Series appearance…

The 33-year-old Venezuelan professional baseball player’s dramatic three-run home run delivered Houston a stunning 5-4 win over the Texas Rangers on Friday night at Globe Life Field.

The Astros trailed the Rangers by two runs in the top of the ninth. Adolis García had just given the Rangers the lead with a thunderous three-run blast. Benches and bullpens had also just emptied after Bryan Abreu hit García with a pitch. But the indescribably talented Altuve, who never seems to stop producing big moments, pulled off the three-run home run to give the Astros their third-straight win against the Rangers.

The Astros have officially clawed their way back from an 0-2 series deficit to a 3-2 American League Championship Series (ALCS) lead.

Altuve has played in 101 playoff games. He’s homered in 24 of those games (and 26 times total). He’s been on the field, playing second base, for two World Series final outs that gave the Astros their first and second championships. Despite all his postseason mileage, and against all of his magical – sometimes even controversial – October moments, a new personal favorite rose to the top of Altuve’s list: Game 5 of the 2023 American League Championship Series.

With two runners on and no outs against Rangers closer José Leclerc, Altuve parked a three-run home run just above the outstretched arm of Evan Carter in left field. Altuve’s teammates spilled onto the field, some jumping over the dugout railing, others wildly waving their arms and completely losing their minds. Alex Bregman said he lost his voice by screaming so much. Nobody could explain why or how the longest-tenured Astro can, time and again, meet the moment.

“You don’t use the word ‘expect,’ but you anticipate something great happening,” Justin Verlander said of Altuve. “And more often than not, he just seems to deliver.”

The Astros are now one win away from their third consecutive appearance in the Fall Classic.

The Astros have struggled to win at home all year, and the Rangers will have surging right-hander Nathan Eovaldi going Sunday in Game 6 against struggling lefty Framber Valdez (FS1, 8:03 p.m. ET).

Houston now has two chances to win at Minute Maid Park, but if the past five games have taught us anything, it’s that this is still anyone’s series.