Coming off a 6-4 series victory on Wednesday over the Texas Rangers, the Houston Astros now turn their gaze onto the Boston Red Sox. The Astros took two of three games against the Rangers in securing the Silver Boot for another year.
Yordan Alvarez hit a solo home run in Wednesday’s win. It looks like Alvarez might be heating up as he’s been making solid contact lately. Reviewing the Astros’ offensive woes in recent weeks might leave some fans shaking their heads.
Yordan Alvarez Wakes Up Astros Offense
Alvarez’s solo homer followed up his two-run homer on Tuesday, helping him break a 13-game homerless streak. “I had a rough series at home, and it feels good to be able to recover the swing again,” Alvarez told MLB reporter Brian McTaggart. “I really didn’t think that was going to be a homer,” he said about Wednesday’s blast, which cleared the right-center field fence. “I left the box running and I looked up and the ball was gone, and I was like, ‘Oh wow.’”
Alvarez now has 11 career homers at Globe Life Field, which also includes postseason play. Those are the most by any visiting player. Getting Alvarez hot at the plate has shown to be a catalyst for the Astros’ lineup in the past. He’s nestled in the third spot, right behind leadoff man Jose Altuve and Alex Bregman.
If Altuve and Bregman can get on base on a more regular basis, then Alvarez will have key RBI moments. Altuve, who still has a tendency to swing wildly at pitches out of his zone, has been steady at the plate this season. He’s among the American League leaders in batting average. As for Bregman, he has been showing signs of finding his familiar swing at the plate. There still appear to be too many popouts, but Bregman keeps working on his swing with hitting coach Alex Cintron.
Rookie Zach Dezenzo had quite a day at the plate for the Houston Astros on Wednesday. Dezenzo, just called up from Triple-A Sugar Land, went 2-for-3. He connected for a double and scored two runs. Dezenzo only played 11 games before his callup, giving Jon Singleton a breather at first base.
“Yesterday was yesterday,” Dezenzo said on Wednesday after an 0-for-4 first MLB game on Tuesday. “There were a lot of emotions and it was pretty overwhelming. Today I felt a lot more like myself, just playing the game again and enjoying it and having fun with the guys. I was able to produce a lot today, so that was good.”
Kikuchi Gives Houston Astros Boost
Newly acquired starting pitcher Yusei Kikuchi picked up his first win as an Astro. Kikuchi gave up two runs on four hits while striking out eight in 5 1/3 innings of work. The Houston Astros have won both of Kikuchi’s starts, a good sign for a taxed starting rotation. “I feel like I’ve been settling in and getting used to my surroundings, but getting those two wins definitely eases the pressure,” he said.
Now, the Astros will take Thursday as a day off before starting a three-game series with the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park. The pitching rotation had not been announced by Thursday morning. But Astros manager Joe Espada probably hopes his starters can work into the sixth or, maybe, even the seventh inning. That would set his bullpen rotation up nicely, going from Bryan Abreu to Ryan Pressly and Josh Hader to close it out.
With the Seattle Mariners losing on Wednesday, the Astros now find themselves all alone atop the AL West Division standings. Houston is up one-half game over Seattle and 5 1/2 games over Texas.
Winning the series at Globe Life Field gave the Houston Astros a boost after a rough homestand. They look to keep moving forward and, hopefully, adding to their division lead against the Red Sox.
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