Major League Baseball

Yordan Álvarez reintroduces himself to playoffs with two homers in Astros' win over Twins

Updated Oct. 7, 2023 11:03 p.m. ET

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Deesha Thosar

MLB Writer

HOUSTON — Business owners in Yordan Álvarez's Cuban hometown shuttered their storefronts for this.

When Álvarez connected on a Bailey Ober slider that, without deceit, fell into the middle of the zone, the slugger knew right away where that ball would land. He also knew his dad, Agustín Eduardo Álvarez, who found a way to be in attendance at Minute Maid Park, would enjoy that one. Yordan Álvarez's family watched him play professionally in-person for the first time last year and again didn't miss the opportunity to do so this postseason. 

That's a good thing for the Astros; Álvarez, already one of the best sluggers in the game, feels calmer when his family is in the ballpark.

"I know that in my hometown they don't miss any of my games, especially here in the playoffs," said Álvarez, who defected from Cuba in 2016. "I don't know how they do it. I know when I was growing up, I didn't have the opportunity to watch major-league games live. They find a way. It makes me happy to see business owners closing their business just to find a way to watch these games."

Fittingly, Álvarez found a way Saturday to lift the Astros with two homers in a 6-4 win versus the Twins in Game 1 of the American League Division Series. His loud two-run home run in the third inning felt like it could be the clincher — even that early and with a not-so-sharp Justin Verlander on the hill for Houston. Álvarez's first blast gave the Astros a three-run lead, which might not sound like much, but the club's experience at Minute Maid Park made it feel, at the time, like a suffocating advantage. 

The Twins then remembered these Astros didn't coast to their division title this year. As Astros general manager Dana Brown said of his team, "these guys were stressing" this season, having to fight with the Texas Rangers for first place while recognizing that they weren't playing at the level they'd grown accustomed to the previous six years.

"You can never be too satisfied, too comfortable when you’re up five [runs], or six," outfielder Chas McCormick said.

A crack in their armor showed in top of the seventh when Hector Neris replaced Verlander, who tossed six scoreless innings and struck out six. With Minnesota down 5-0, Jorge Polanco (three-run dinger) and Royce Lewis (solo shot) cranked back-to-back home runs off Neris and cut the deficit to a run. The game, once seemingly out of reach, was suddenly a nail-biter.

That is, until Álvarez and his calm — yet imposing — demeanor stepped back into the box in the bottom half of the seventh. The 6-foot-5 slugger parked his second home run of the game deep into right field, stared into the Astros dugout and emphatically flipped his bat as he gave his team a 6-4 lead. If his first homer prematurely felt like a game-ender, his second long ball was a not-so-subtle reminder to opposing pitchers everywhere: Álvarez is perhaps the most clutch hitter in baseball. 

"He's just one of the best left-handed hitters that I've played with," Verlander said. "And one of the best hitters I've played with."

José Altuve added: "I think he’s the best hitter in baseball right now."

Before Álvarez, there was Altuve, who got 43,024 fans to wildly wave their orange towels with a no-doubter above the Crawford Boxes to lead off the bottom of the first inning. His 24th career postseason home run was also his first since Game 4 of the 2021 World Series against the Atlanta Braves. Only Manny Ramirez (29) has more playoff home runs in MLB history. With the first-inning blast, Altuve also passed David Ortiz for the fourth-most extra-base hits (42) in postseason history. Derek Jeter (57), Bernie Williams (51) and Ramirez (48) lead that category. 

"It puts you at ease a little bit," Verlander said of Altuve’s home run. "Obviously, [it was a] very stressful first inning. I think everybody would prefer to go three up, three down in the first. But then to kind of like, give you a little more margin for error, even though it was just one run, is a big deal." 

On the mound, Houston got more guile than greatness from Verlander. He walked his first batter of the game and allowed a single to the next. His command was off, his opening frame featuring way more balls than strikes, and he even hit a batter in the fifth inning, a rarity for the right-hander. Still, he managed to escape multiple jams to keep his team on top, a trademark of his 18-year career.

It was pretty telling that the Twins couldn't get to this sluggish version of Verlander, who afterward admitted his mechanics were lacking. The right-hander gave Minnesota's lefty-heavy lineup multiple chances to do significant damage. In the first few innings, the leadoff batter reached against Verlander all three times. Verlander's biggest mistake came at the top of the third, when he threw a 95-mph fastball right in the heart of the zone that Edouard Julien ripped off the left-field wall for a double. But Verlander managed to escape thanks to a baserunning mistake and a pair of strikeouts. 

His final line of six shutout innings across 91 pitches looked better than he actually pitched. But Saturday served as a reminder that even when the Astros aren't playing their best, the defending champions can find ways to win. They're now 12-0 at home in the ALDS since 2017.

"I think we have a really good shot at making it to the World Series and winning," Kyle Tucker asserted.

This was the first step. They have 10 more to go.

Deesha Thosar is an MLB writer for FOX Sports. She previously covered the Mets as a beat reporter for the New York Daily News. The daughter of Indian immigrants, Deesha grew up on Long Island and now lives in Queens. Follow her on Twitter at @DeeshaThosar. 

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Deesha Thosar