Early on, there weren’t any fireworks, but Yordan Alvarez wanted to make sure there were a few by the end.
Alvarez and Jeremy Peña collided badly on Wednesday in New York, and the left fielder had to quit the field on a cart. Both managed to avoid severe injuries, but Alvarez missed two games to undergo a concussion test evaluation.
Rewind to Monday, when Alvarez hit a walk-off leadoff homer to start giving the Astros a 7-6 victory over the Royals at Minute Maid Park after the Astros had fallen behind early by a five-run margin. Houston overcame a three-run shortfall against Texas on June 14 to earn its biggest comeback victory.
Alvarez recently had a memorable month of June, winning the AL Player of the Month Award after dominating the AL in terms of batting average (.418), on-base percentage (.510), slugging percentage (.835), and OPS (1.345). Alvarez’s exceptional year is only continuing as he currently leads the Majors in OPS (1.063) and slugging percentage (.653). In addition, he is third in on-base proportion and came in second in home runs (24) behind Aaron Judge (29). (.410). Alvarez has added to his list of accomplishments, moving up to fifth place in AL/NL history with 84 home runs in his first 299 games. The only thing lacking was the first walk-off home run of his professional life.
Houston had been in distress right away, trailing 5-0 after the first 3 1/2 innings and going hitless. The fact that the starting pitcher, Jake Odorizzi, gave up 5 runs on 9 hits in 4 innings, his 1st beginning since May 16, didn’t seem to help. The Astros’ six-game winning streak appeared to end, but they are confident in their ability to recover quickly.
They are a really good team, according to Alvarez, and the match wasn’t over until the last out was captured. Throughout the entire game, nobody in that pit surrenders.
The Astros quickly forced their way home into the contest by scoring 1 run each in the 4th, 5th, and 7th innings. With a three-run 8th inning, they brought their performance to a close. Kyle Tucker delivered a two-run single after the Royals gave up 3 consecutive walks. With an RBI single in the following at-bat, Yuli Gurriel tied the score.
The scene was set for Alvarez with 2 outs in the bottom half of the 9th after Ryne Stanek recorded a 0 in the upper half of the frame. Alvarez was waiting for a good pitch and realized what to do next, unfazed by the situation. At an angular velocity of 112.6 mph, he squashed an 84.4 mph slider to the right-center field.
