HOUSTON -- Yordan Alvarez blasted his Major League-leading 34th home run of the season, a two-run shot in the eighth inning off Marlins starter Sandy Alcantara that broke a 2-2 tie and sent the Astros to a 5-2 win and a three-game sweep of Miami on Wednesday night at Daikin Park.
Alcantara started the eighth inning at 97 pitches and gave up a single to Jeremy Peña, who went 3-for-4 with a homer. 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.
Alvarez, who’s making a run at the Triple Crown by leading the American League in batting average, homers and RBIs, is 17-for-33 with five homers and nine RBIs in his past nine games. His 34 homers are three shy of his career high of 37 set in 2022.
The win was manager Joe Espada’s 225th with the Astros, moving him into sole possession of 10th place on the club’s all-time wins list.
Nick Allen’s RBI single in the second inning put the Astros up, 1-0, and Peña led off the third inning with a homer to left field for a 2-0 lead. Peña has hit home runs in a career-best three consecutive games, and has nine on the season. Peña is 18-for-50 (.360) in his past 13 games.
Astros starter Peter Lambert continued his strong July by throwing six innings, allowing two runs, six hits and two walks. He escaped a bases-loaded jam in the first inning but gave up two runs in the fourth on back-to-back RBI hits by Javier Sanoja and Joe Mack.