As Jeremy Pena and Yordan Alvarez go, so go the Astros.
After the All-Star break, when the Astros took first place in the AL West by storm, it was the slugging of the dynamic duo, Pena and Alvarez, along with a resurgent bullpen, that led the way. Today, in front of a national TV audiencec, the 1-6 hitters, including, of course, Pena and Alvarez, were hitless. The Astros only managed two runs on two hits. This, after losing 3-2 last night as well.
In his last 28 at bats, Alvarez has only four hits, all singles. He hasn’t hit a home run since July 28th. During the same stretch, Pena is only 1-28 and is 0 for his last 23.
The Astros managed to strike first in the second inning when Daulton Varsho homered home Taylor Trammell off Padres starter Randy Vasquez. Since joining the Astros, Varsho was only 2-for-18 before catapulting the Astros to an early lead with his first homer as an Astro.
The Padres answered in the home second with a solo homer by 23-year-old emerging star Jackson Merrill, his 18th.
Except for the homer, Astros starter Cristian Javier was cruising until the fourth inning. But a single and a two-out infield single set the stage for leadoff slugger Fernando Tatis. Tatis took a third-straight changeup 421 feet to give the Friars a 4-2 lead.
Javier finished five innings, allowing four runs, eight hits with two Ks. The one walk he allowed in the second inning broke a streak of 13 straight innings without allowing a walk. Javier’s kryptonite was the two-strike hit. Of the eight hits against Javier, five came with two strikes. Only two of his outs came on grounders; ten came off fly balls. Unfortunately, two other fly balls left the park.
In the sixth inning, Gavin Sheets added another run for the Padres against Astros reliever A.J. Blubaugh. In the eighth inning, new-Padre Austin Hayes blew the game open with a two-run homer off Bryan King.
The Astros still hold a slim lead over the Rangers for the AL West lead. Hopefully the cool Bay air of San Francisco, and the NL’s fourth-worst team ERA, will rejuvenate the Astros bats.
Are you worried about Yordan’s recurring hand issues?
Game time is San Fran, 8:45 CT.
As Alvarez goes, the Astros go. It is the way.