TORONTO -- The Astros entered Tuesday’s game against Blue Jays starter Shane Bieber with a simple approach: Come up to the plate ready to hit.
In the fourth inning, they executed that plan to perfection.
Houston tagged Bieber for back-to-back-to-back homers with one out in the frame, with Yainer Diaz, Cam Smith and Taylor Trammell turning a one-run lead into four in the blink of an eye.
“You know what you’re going to get from Bieber. He throws a ton of strikes. He’s got a good mix in, up, down,” Astros manager Joe Espada said pregame. “He’s been it like that for a very long time, and we've got to be ready to hit from pitch No. 1 because he’s going to be aggressive in the zone.”
Diaz took the message to heart as he came to the plate hacking in the fourth. The 27-year-old catcher drove a first-pitch 87 mph cutter over the left-field wall to start the big-fly bonanza for Houston.
Smith then followed with an impressive Statcast-projected 436-foot shot to left-center before Trammell rounded out the trio with a homer that claimed a place in Rogers Centre history.
Trammell drove a 1-1 fastball 421 feet to right with a 35-degree launch angle -- a ball that settled into the 500-level seating. It marked the 25th 500-level homer hit at Toronto’s stadium since the Blue Jays began play at the dome in 1989.
“He’s got a really good eye at the plate,” Espada said pregame about having Trammell in the starting nine. “Sometimes, when you have really good swing decisions, you can be really picky with the pitch that you choose to swing at. But sometimes, [you have to] just trust your instincts and let it rip. … So [we’re] just trying to get him to let it rip.”
Mission accomplished then, as Trammell put the cap on Houston’s first stretch of three consecutive homers since Jose Altuve, Alex Bregman and Yordan Alvarez achieved the feat on July 19, 2019, against the Texas Rangers.