Yordan Álvarez led another epic moment in the playoffs: but the Astros offense did not react

*Editor's note: Here you can read the original version of this article in Spanish: Yordan Álvarez encabezó otro momento épico en playoffs: pero la ofensiva de los Astros no reaccionó

I guess a lot of us were asking ourselves the same questions before ALCS Game 2 between the Astros and Rangers: Will Yordan Alvarez get shut down again? Will Nathan Eovaldi and the Rangers relievers maintain Jordan Montgomery's dominance of Yordan in Game 1?

That was one of the main stories to follow, as the Houston Astros tried to react on offense after being shut out 2-0 by the Texas Rangers in their first battle of the American League Championship Series. After Eovaldi dominated the first inning in a row with just 11 pitches, the duel against Yordan Álvarez opened the second inning. The Rangers had an early 4-0 lead, so Eovaldi began his start without facing any pressure situations.

Yordan Álvarez had been moved to the fourth shift by manager Dusty Baker Jr., who assured that the Cuban slugger faced Game 1 suffering from a virus. When he approached the plate, one of the Fox Sports commentators in Spanish, Diego Venegas, advanced a phenomenal fact about the matchup against Nathan Eovaldi: in nine plate appearances during his career in regular seasons, Yordan had hit 5 for 7 against him. (.714), with a double, a home run, and three RBIs. But the general offensive line, adding the confrontations in the 2021 postseason, sounded even more exterminating: Yordan punished Eovaldi 8-for-11 (.727!), with three doubles, a home run, and four RBIs.

Eovaldi couldn't find the mix of pitches to stop Yordan's swing. He had struck him out just once, with a called strike during an eight-pitch at-bat on August 1, 2022, when he was pitching for the Red Sox. With that background, Eovaldi began by carefully attacking the top third of the strike zone with a 95 mph four-seam fastball. Yordan didn't even nod. On the second pitch, he threw a cutter to the center of the zone, and Yordan fouled it out. Eovaldi continued to exploit his repertoire, and delivered a 77 mph downward curveball, looking for contrast.

Once again, Yordan remained patient, protecting the strike zone. At a 2-1 count, the Rangers ace again applied a high-velocity pitch. His 95 mph four-seam fastball tried to cross the middle of the zone and... Yordan crushed him: he hit a solo home run 420 feet to right field, which opened the scoring for the silenced Astros offense.

In their next confrontation, during the bottom of the fourth inning, Eovaldi retaliated. He changed his entire plan. Instead of attacking the zone with his four-seam fastball, he mixed curveball, cutter, and splitter. He survived the 2-1 count, taking a chance with a cutter down the middle of the strike zone. Yordan attacked him, but his swing failed to hit the ball in the sweet spot. And then, Eovaldi didn't pull away: He surprised Yordan with a 77 mph curveball that rotated into the low outside corner. I thought the head umpire, Mark Ripperger, had once again been inconsistent in calling pitches in the corners, but he got the call right:

The Astros' big moment came in the next inning when they loaded the bases with no outs, but Eovaldi grew: he struck out pinch-hitter Yainer Díaz, repeated the dose against José Altuve, and dominated Alex Bregman on a ground ball to third. No one could get Yordan Álvarez to enter the inning with runners on base.

In his last challenge of the afternoon, Eovaldi walked Yordan on five pitches, three of them splitters.* He preferred not to challenge him and felt more comfortable attacking the strike zone against José Abreu, to whom he struck out his second of the game. With two outs, Michael Brantley doubled, and Yordan scored on a big run from first. Eovaldi worked out the final out by striking out Chas McCormick, his ninth “K” of the game in six innings.

*So the matchup ended up yielding this overwhelming line of dominance in favor of Yordan against Eovaldi: 9-for-13 (.692 BA), with three doubles, two home runs, and five RBIs.

The Astros were once again unable to take advantage of their opportunities. During the final third, the Rangers bullpen preserved the lead, getting the key outs. What was the exception? Yes, Yordan Álvarez's fourth plate appearance. The opportunity came after two outs in the bottom of the eighth, with a two-run lead for the Rangers, who led 5-3. However, Yordan reached the batter's box for the sixth time with clean bases. You already know the reason: José Altuve is 0-for-7 with two strikeouts at the beginning of the Championship Series.

Alex Bregman, who had hit a solo home run off Eovaldi in the fourth inning, has been on base just once for Yordan Álvarez — it was in the third inning of Game 1 when he singled to left with two outs against Jordan Montgomery. Kyle Tucker, after being moved by Dusty Baker Jr. to third for Game 2, went 0 for 4 with a strikeout. Both were dominated by Cuban Aroldis Chapman: Bregman failed to fly out to center on the first pitch, and Tucker hit a hard grounder to second, but second baseman Marcus Semien was well positioned to prevent the 101.1 mph hit from crossing the infield.

With two outs, Yordan was announced to the crowd at Minute Maid Park as he settled into the batter's box for the second time against Chapman in this Championship Series. Less than 24 hours earlier, Chapman had won the first battle against Yordan, forcing him to ground out against a slider that snuck into the outside corner. That was recorded as the fifth historic challenge between Chapman and Yordan, and until the eighth inning this Monday, “El Misil Cubano” had won all of them.

By the way, the first four matchups before this postseason resulted in strikeouts, curiously three of them without Yordan swinging. Also in four of those five matchups, Yordan saw at least four pitches and finished two at-bats with seven. So, usually, he had been patient at the plate. But this time the strategy was different for both competitors. Chapman didn't start the at-bat by throwing his 100 mph challenge sinker. And, for his part, Yordan was completely determined to attack the first pitch.

What happened then? Chapman threw another slider to the outside corner, in the same area that prompted Yordan to hit the 63 mph grounder for the third out of the eighth inning in Game 1. The difference was that this time, Yordan did not go ahead. His eyes followed the slider's rotation, and his hands unleashed that deadly swing you know, producing a 110.5 mph rocket toward the right field seats. What a hit! It was, with certainty, the type of home run that you can predict from the moment you see Yordan pull at his ease.

Astros 4, Rangers 5.

Yordan did it again. With his second home run of the game, both solos to the misfortune of the Astros fans, he once again brought hope to Minute Maid Park. After a fateful 0-for-4 night with three strikeouts in Game 1, he drove in three of the four runs that led Houston's ineffective lineup.

That second home run could be categorized as epic, since it was Yordan's 12th in the playoffs, making him the new all-time leader among Cuban-born players — he surpassed Randy Arozarena, who began this postseason with 11. Among Cuban home run hitters, he has been the only hitter with two multi-home run games in a single postseason:

Tony Pérez: 2 HR, Game 5 WS 1975

Kendrys Morales: 2 HR, Game 1 ALDS 2015

Yandy Díaz: 2 HR, Game 1 ALWC 2019

Yordan Álvarez: 2 HR, Game 1 ALDS 2023

José Abreu: 2 HR, Game 3 ALDS 2023

*Yordan Álvarez: 2 HR, Game 2 ALCS 2023

*The home run also set Yordan on two other honorable records:

RECORD IN POSTSEASON HISTORY — He tied the mark set by Giancarlo Stanton with the Yankees in 2020, when he hit six home runs in his first six games of the postseason, leaving behind the five of Carlos Beltrán (2004), Juan Igor González (1996 ) and Ken Griffey Jr. (1995).

RECORD FOR THE HOUSTON ASTROS — He became the only Astro with two multi-HR games in the same postseason, and the third hitter to achieve that feat in the franchise, joining Carlos Correa (2015 and 2020) and George Springer (2018 and 2020). However, I am sure that Yordan Álvarez would trade any personal record for success by the Astros, who were ultimately defeated 5-4 in Game 2 of this Championship Series against the Texas Rangers. For Houston, the inconsistency of the regular season at Minute Maid Park was repeated, with the difference that this time it could cost the current World Series champions elimination.

The great hope for Houston was that its main hitter, Cuban Yordan Álvarez, resurfaced in Game 2, although his epic home runs were not enough to reach the Rangers. With the series down 2-0, the Astros' lineup continues to leave doubt as time for their main hitters to react is reduced.

---