MEXICO CITY, MEXICO - APRIL 27: Manager Joe Espada #19 of the Houston Astros talks to the media prior to a 2024 Mexico City Series game between the Houston Astros and the Colorado Rockies at Alfredo Harp Helú Stadium on Saturday, April 27, 2024 in Mexico City, Mexico. (Photo by Daniel Shirey/MLB Photos via Getty Images)
Astros mash four home runs off Joe Ryan in 5-2 victory over Twins.
HOUSTON – The rosters have changed, the Astros are sub-.500, and the stakes are a lot lower in June than October. Still, it’s possible to have flashbacks this weekend to last year’s AL Division Series. Yordan Álvarez made sure of it. Álvarez, who homered four times when these teams met in the playoffs, slugged
a Joe Ryan slider more than 400 feet into the right-field seats in the first inning, then sizzled a line drive to a similar spot in the fifth, leading the Astros to a 5-2 victory at Minute Maid Park that felt a lot more lopsided than the score. Kyle Tucker also homered off Ryan, Tucker’s 19th of the season, as did – get this – José Abreu, who had only one extra-base hit, a double in mid-April, all season. It was Ryan’s fourth career start with four or more homers, and gave the Twins four different pitchers who have allowed 10 or more home runs. No other MLB team has more than two. One Astro who was definitely not the same as
last October was left-hander Framber Valdez, the only Houston starter to take a loss in the ALDS. This time, Valdez was nearly unhittable for six innings, facing the minimum 18 hitters in that span. Manuel Margot led off the seventh by grounding a ball just past a diving José Altuve to break up the no-hitter, and José Miranda eventually singled him home to break up the shutout. But Valdez completed seven innings for the fifth time this season, allowing just two hits and that lone run. The Twins scored again
once Valdez left, with Carlos Correa singling home Edouard Julien off Bryan Abreu in the eighth, but a bigger inning was prevented when Christian Vázquez grounded into a double play with two runners on base. And Houston’s defense probably prevented another run in the ninth, when Byron Buxton smacked a Josh Hader fastball to the center-field wall, 409 feet away. Jake Meyers made a leaping catch to prevent extra bases, and Buxton held his helmet high in tribute as he walked back to the dugout.
