George Kirby had done something almost impossible against the Houston Astros. Then Yordan Alvarez decided he was done letting it happen.
The Astros slugger took Kirby deep to right field on Friday for his 36th home run of the season, ending a streak that had defined the Mariners ace’s history against Houston. Coming into the game, Kirby had faced the Astros in 11 starts and had not allowed a single home run across 254 plate appearances.
That is absurd. The Astros lineup has featured Alvarez, Jose Altuve, Kyle Tucker, and Alex Bregman across those years. None of them had ever run one out on Kirby. Alvarez broke the seal in the first inning on a 1-0 changeup.
The context makes it even better. Alvarez had gone 13 straight games without a home run heading into Friday, and he was tied for the AL lead at 35 dingers before the drought started. He was so bothered by it he took on-field batting practice earlier in the day, which teammates say he almost never does.
Something clicked. The swing looked easier, the timing was back, and Kirby’s changeup ended up 428 feet from home plate. Alvarez went 2 for 4 with the homer, a walk, and an RBI, looking like the middle-of-the-order force Houston has been waiting to see again.
The Astros needed every bit of it. Christian Walker eventually walked it off in the tenth inning with a three-run blast to beat Seattle 10-7, but Alvarez set the tone. When he is right, this lineup plays a different sport.
For Kirby, this is a real dent in a bulletproof profile. His numbers against the Astros were becoming folk hero territory, the kind of thing that makes AL West rivalries feel personal. Getting solved by Alvarez in mid-August with a division race tightening up is not the reminder Seattle wanted.
The bigger takeaway is what this means for the AL West race. The Astros have been sputtering in stretches all year, and their offense living or dying with Alvarez has been the story of their season. If he found his swing on Friday and holds it into September, Houston is still the team nobody wants to face in October.
Seattle has to figure out how to respond, and fast. Kirby is the guy who is supposed to lock down the Astros. If Alvarez has broken through, the Mariners’ path to holding off Houston in the West just got a lot narrower.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
