Yordan lets his bat handle Triple Crown talk, and it sure has a lot to say

HOUSTON -- No more talk about the Triple Crown and how he feels about his chances to win it in the American League this year. Yordan Alvarez prefers to let his powerful bat make his case, and it’s making a very strong one with the way he’s been crushing baseballs.

He did it again in the eighth inning of a tied game Wednesday night against the Marlins, sending a pitch from ace Sandy Alcantara over the left-center-field wall for a two-run homer that sent the Astros to a 5-2 win and a three-game sweep of the Marlins at Daikin Park.

The homer was Alvarez’s Major League-leading 34th of the season. He also leads MLB with 77 RBIs, while leading the AL in the final Triple Crown category, hitting .328.

“I’m just focused right now on playing ball,” Alvarez said. “There’s more than two months remaining in the season, so I’m not going to talk anymore about the Triple Crown. I don’t want to answer any more questions about the Triple Crown.”

The sweep of the Marlins came on the heels of the Astros getting swept at home by the Orioles, which dropped them to seven games under .500 and raised questions about whether the club should even be buyers at the Trade Deadline. Star shortstop Jeremy Peña challenged the team publicly, saying it was time to make a run.

By sweeping the Marlins, the Astros moved back within two games of the first-place Rangers in the AL West heading into a weekend series against the AL Central-leading White Sox in Chicago.

“You get swept, you sweep somebody back, right?” manager Joe Espada said. “That’s a good bounceback win. That was good stuff. We bounced back very well against a good Marlins team. Beat one of the best pitchers in the game. I think our players, our team reacted very well after the way we played against Baltimore.”

Peña, who went 3-for-4 on Wednesday and homered in his third consecutive game, said nothing was said privately between the players in the clubhouse following the Baltimore sweep. Everyone already knew the season could be slipping away, and it was time to respond.

“The expectation is to win,” Peña said. “How do we get there? Everyone is showing up every single day, everyone is trying to figure it out.”

Riding the coattails of Alvarez is a pretty good strategy, too.

Alcantara started the eighth inning at 97 pitches and gave up a single to Peña. Alvarez then crushed a 1-1 fastball and sent it a Statcast-projected 394 feet over the left-center-field wall to put the Astros ahead, 4-2. Isaac Paredes followed with a towering homer to left to end Alcantara’s night at 108 pitches.

“Alcantara is going to go after those guys,” Espada said. “That’s what he does. We talk about Alvarez, but Jeremy, he’s so important. He gets on base and Yordan has that hole open [on the right side of the infield] a lot, so he’s able to get those singles through that hole.

“And how about Paredes? He’s a threat behind Yordan. He gets big hits. He’s a quality at-bat. Those three guys in the top of our order, they’re one of the best in the league.”

Peña’s contributions can’t be understated. He’s slashing .354/.395/.608 with six homers and 16 RBIs in 21 games since June 15, missing nine games on the injured list with a left calf strain during that stretch. The Astros are 13-8 in those games.

“I feel like my job at the leadoff spot is to set the tone for the team, whether that’s to get on base, whether that’s to see what the pitcher’s got for that day,” Peña said. “I feel like Yordan’s put together such a special season and you obviously want to be on base when he’s up to bat, because there’s a chance there’s going to be multiple runs coming through the plate.”

Alvarez is two homers shy of his career high of 37 set in 2022, and he has the second-most blasts by an Astros player through 104 games (Jeff Bagwell had 35 through the first 104 games of his 1994 NL MVP season). He’s 17-for-33 with seven runs scored, five home runs and 10 RBIs during a nine-game hitting streak.

“He’s the best hitter in baseball right now,” Alcantara said.