Yordan Alvarez is swinging the bat like he’s ready to return to the Astros' lineup.
Alvarez roped three hits, including a pair of doubles, in his second Minor League rehab outing on Thursday night for Double-A Corpus Christi. He finished the night 3-for-4 with a strikeout and an RBI, serving as the team’s designated hitter.
In the first inning, Alvarez laced a double into the right-center-field gap; then, in the third inning, he lined another double down the right-field line. The three-time All-Star is now 5-for-8 across two rehab games after recording two hits in first rehab appearance on Tuesday.
Alvarez -- sidelined since May 2 with a fractured right hand and subsequent inflammation -- is on the verge of a long-awaited return. On Tuesday, Astros manager Joe Espada confirmed that the plan is for Alvarez to appear in back-to-back games for Corpus Christi on Thursday and Friday, before potentially rejoining the Astros over the weekend in Baltimore.
Before landing on the IL, Alvarez looked like a shell of his usual self, slashing .210/.306/.340 in 121 plate appearances. The hand injury seemed to zap his patented power, as he hit just three home runs. He’s hit almost as many doubles in two rehab games (three) as he has in 29 games in the Majors this season (four).
A healthy Alvarez would bring an undeniable jolt to an Astros lineup that has struggled to score. Houston recently went 31 consecutive innings without a run, suffering three consecutive shutout losses.
But the bats broke out with a 7-2 win over the Orioles on Thursday, extending their lead to two games over the second-place Mariners in the AL West. With the division race poised to go down to the wire, Alvarez’s eventual return looms large.