Houston Astros center fielder Jose Siri is making life hard for manager Dusty Baker five games into the 2022 season. His position in the outfield is one of the spots where the Astros have a plethora of talent with Siri, Chas McCormick, and Jake Meyers (who is currently on the 10-day IL due to offseason shoulder surgery).

Siri’s dynamic play in the outfield to go along with a hot bat at the plate helped Houston defeat the Arizona Diamondbacks 2-1 and improve their record to 4-1 on the season. In three starts this season, he is batting .455 with five runs scored.

“He can play,” said Astros manager Dusty Baker during his postgame press conference. “The key is he has ability and we have seen it all along. He is trying to harness his ability and it is our job to harness that ability and take us in a positive direction.”

The Astros knew that the 26-year-old outfielder was a dynamic talent when they signed him to a minor-league deal in December 2020. They didn’t know how his bravado would carry over once he got an opportunity to play in the majors.

In his MLB debut against the Texas Rangers on September 13, 2021, Siri gave Houston a glimpse of what they were getting when he went 4-for-5 with two home runs, five RBI, and three runs.

Diamondbacks starting pitcher Madison Bumgarner witnessed how Siri can affect the game defensively when he watched what looked to be a potential RBI double for teammate Christian Walker get run down by Siri to end the first inning. He fell victim to Siri offensively when his curveball was sent 456-feet over the left-center field wall to put the Astros up 1-0.

Arizona (1-4) would bounce back to tie the game at one apiece in the bottom of the sixth inning after Houston reliever Bryan Abreu gave up a home run to Christian Walker.

The game would stay tied until the top of the ninth inning when Siri turned what looked to be a single into a double with two outs to put himself in position to become the go-ahead run for Houston.

“He pushes the envelope day in and day out, we all know that,” said teammate Michael Brantley. “He brings a lot of energy, a lot of life here and it’s phenomenal to watch.”

After second baseman Jose Altuve drew a walk from Diamondbacks reliever Mark Melancon, Brantley singled through the hole at shortstop to drive in Siri from second base to put the Astros up 2-1. That would be more than enough runs for closer Ryan Pressly as he allowed a single base runner before retiring the next three batters to end the game.

“I was just trying to get a good hit and put it into play,” Brantley said about his RBI single in the ninth inning. “We put together some key at-bats in the ninth inning.”

Houston will play their final game against Arizona on Wednesday before heading to Seattle to take on the Mariners for a three-game weekend series.