HOUSTON -- Yordan Alvarez collected four hits for the second game in a row -- becoming the first Astros player to do that since Kyle Tucker last September -- but the Astros’ pitching woes and lack of clutch hitting led to their undoing Thursday night.
The Yankees used a three-run homer from Trent Grisham in the eighth inning off Kaleb Ort to pull away from the Astros and take the series between American League heavyweights at Daikin Park with an 8-4 victory. With the loss, the Astros’ lead in the AL West fell to 3 1/2 games over the second-place Mariners
Alvarez, who was activated from the injured list on Aug. 26 after missing 100 games with a fractured hand, homered off Yankees starter Carlos Rodón in the third to tie the game at 1. He doubled and scored in the fifth and had singles in the seventh and ninth. Alvarez is hitting .500 (14-for-28) since coming off the injured list with eight walks (.595 on-base percentage) and a 1.380 OPS.
Alvarez is just the third player in the Majors this year to have back-to-back four-hit games, joining Bo Bichette and JJ Bleday.
The Astros loaded the bases with one out in the ninth for cleanup hitter Carlos Correa, who struck out swinging as the tying run against David Bednar. Christian Walker followed and also struck out swinging, leaving the Astros 1-for-11 with runners in scoring position.
“I was expecting one of those guys just to put one in the seats, but I like the fight there at the end,” Astros manager Joe Espada said. “Again, good relievers in there for them at the end and we fought back and were one swing away.”
Astros starter Cristian Javier, making his fifth start since returning from Tommy John surgery, appeared to have turned a corner when he threw six no-hit innings in Friday’s start against the Angels, but he couldn’t survive a messy fifth inning Thursday. New York batted around in the fifth and scored three times, including a homer by Ryan McMahon, to take a 4-1 lead.
“He started really good and the stuff looked good early, fastball looked good early,” Espada said. “Then just a few walks just got us in trouble. I thought we walked a few guys today where it kind of expanded the innings and allowed them to get some runs across.”
The game was not played without some drama. In the ninth, the umpires confiscated the bat of Taylor Trammell. After Trammell doubled off the left-field wall, Yankees manager Aaron Boone asked the umpires to examine the bat because he believed it was discolored at the label. Crew chief Adrian Johnson handed the bat to an authenticator seated next to the dugout, and Espada said it was going to be sent to the league office to be inspected.