HOUSTON -- The impact slugger Yordan Alvarez can make on the Astros’ lineup was evident when he drew four walks in his first eight plate appearances coming off the injured list last week. Despite missing 100 games with a fractured hand, opposing pitchers wanted no part of the strike zone with Alvarez in the box.
Alvarez served another reminder Wednesday night about the kind of damage he can do when he gets pitches to hit by going 4-for-5 with five scalded baseballs, including a game-tying double in the seventh inning, to help the Astros come from behind and beat the Yankees, 8-7, at Daikin Park.
"I feel very good out there,” Alvarez said. “I think those hard-hit balls were proof of that.”
The Astros (77-63), who scored seven unanswered runs after trailing 4-1 in the sixth before giving up three runs in a tenuous ninth, padded their lead in the American League West to four games over the second-place Mariners.
Alvarez’s five balls in play were all hit at 103.5 mph or harder, making him the first player with five balls hit 103.0 mph or harder since Shohei Ohtani on Sept. 19, 2024. He’s the only player with multiple such games under Statcast tracking (since 2015), with the other coming April 3, 2024.
Since coming off the IL on Aug. 26, Alvarez is slashing .435/.563/.609 with eight walks in 32 plate appearances.
"I’m in awe every single time I see him hit,” outfielder Taylor Trammell said. “The simplicity of it, the force of it, you see him in the lineup and it’s almost like feeling good every single time.”
Alvarez had singles in the first (111.2 mph exit velocity) and fourth innings (114.4 mph), a double in the sixth (105.4 mph) and a game-tying single in the seventh (103.5 mph). His eighth-inning groundout had a 106.1 mph exit velocity.
"He just sprays the ball all over the field,” Astros manager Joe Espada said. “He’s not only a power hitter, but he’s just a professional hitter. If we need a knock, he can get you that hit. When you need him to drive the ball, he can drive the ball. He’s just one of the best hitters in the game.”
After Alvarez tied the game in the seventh, the Astros rallied for four runs in the eighth off Yankees reliever Devin Williams to take an 8-4 lead. Williams allowed a leadoff double to Carlos Correa and walked the bases loaded. With two outs, Trammell took a 3-1 pitch for ball four, scoring Correa to put Houston ahead, 5-4.
"I remember I got to a 3-0 count and kind of the crowd was roaring and you could feel the vibrations in the room and everything like that,” Trammell said. “I kind of just smiled. I was like, ‘This is a great opportunity. This is fun.’ You can’t really feel pressure if you [have] prepared ... I felt good and wanted to get a good pitch to hit, and if I didn’t just take my walk and pass the baton.”
Jeremy Peña, who chased Yankees starter Will Warren with a leadoff homer in the sixth, added an RBI single in the eighth, and two more runs scored on a balk and wild pitch by Camilo Doval, who replaced Williams on the mound. The Astros needed every bit of the insurance runs once Cody Bellinger hit a three-run homer in the ninth off Bryan Abreu.
"Our offense was quiet a little bit early,” Espada said. “Warren was throwing the ball really well -- sinker, the four-seam, and then Jeremy hit that home run and I felt that woke our lineup up. We got some really good at-bats against the back end of their bullpen. We started seeing a ton of pitches and big walks, big hits, big swings.”
The Yankees, who lead the Majors with 239 home runs, took a 3-0 lead on a solo homer by Giancarlo Stanton in the second and a two-run homer by Austin Wells in the fourth. Those were the only runs allowed in five innings of work by Astros starter Jason Alexander. The Astros are 7-0 in his last seven starts.
“Just trying to kind of keep the ball down when I want to keep it down and up when I want to go up and stay out of the heart of the plate,” Alexander said.
“Just try to kind of manage the game and keep us in it. The offense came alive and it was a great comeback win.”