José Altuve alertly stole home after noticing Bryce Harper’s casual handling of a pickoff attempt at first

Elite baseball IQ was on display.

There aren’t many plays in baseball that are more satisfying to watch than seeing a player put his baseball IQ on display. And we got just that with José Altuve’s heads-up base running against the Phillies on Wednesday.

With the game scoreless in the first inning and the Astros threatening with runners at the corners and two outs, Phillies pitcher Taijuan Walker tried to catch Jeremy Peña at first base with a pick-off attempt. Of course, Walker shouldn’t have even been worried about the runner at first with two outs (and a runner on third!). But Bryce Harper certainly didn’t help matters with how he handled the play.

Harper applied the tag on Peña — who slid in safely — but was lackadaisical with the ball as he returned to his feet. Altuve noticed that Harper wasn’t paying attention at all to him at third base, so he just took off for home.

By the time Harper fired off a throw home, Altuve was sliding in safely. It was an unconventional way to steal home, but it counts all the same.

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