Martin Maldonado reflects on Cristian Javier's unnerving confidence after Astros win - "The only way you can rattle him is if you punch him"
Houston Astros catcher Martin Maldonado was all praise for his new teammate Cristian Javier for his incredible outing on Tuesday night against the Minnesota Twins.
In Game 3 of the ALDS showdown at Target Field, Minnesota’s largest mausoleum, Javier pitched 5.0 innings, giving up zero runs for one hit and struck out nine while walking five. His scoreless frames strangulated the Twins hitters as they could only sneak in one run in a 9-1 defeat.
Maldonado admired his teammate's unnerving presence on the mound (via The Athletic):
“The only way you can rattle him is if you punch him, probably. I spend time with him off the field and that’s him.
"Same thing you guys see on the mound is what you see on a daily basis. Strike out somebody, doesn’t get amped. Guy hits a homer, doesn’t get amped. … That’s why we call him El Reptil.”
"El Reptil" suits Javier as much as any, as he's very slow toward the plate and is often a prime candidate for pitch clock violations. He's very sharp, though, and like a snake, he methodically takes down hitters.
In one such instance during the first inning on Tuesday, Javier was pushed to the wall after walking Jorge Polanco and giving up a double to Max Kepler. However, he struck out the next two hitters to end the inning without any runs scored.
In the process, he silenced the Twins crowd who were urging him to commit pitch clock violations. In a post-game interaction, Javier said:
“At that point, I stopped paying attention to the clock because they were counting. I was just paying attention to our catcher.”
Cristian Javier's postseason scoreless streak continues
With Tuesday's outing, Cristian Javier extended his scoreless postseason streak to 16 1/3 innings.
His previous three playoff appearances have taken place at Yankee Stadium, Citizens Bank Park and Target Field. The Yankees and Twins each had only two hits off him.
During last year's World Series, he pitched the second no-hitter in World Series history, quieting a rowdy Philadelphia crowd for six innings and altering the tone of the series.
Overall, Cristian Javier is 5-1 with an ERA of 1.91 and 57 strikeouts in 15 appearances in the postseason in his career.