George Kirby had not given up a home run to the Houston Astros in 11 straight starts. Yordan Alvarez ended that streak on Thursday night with a 428-foot missile to right-center that put the Astros ahead for good in a 6-3 win over the Mariners.
Kirby had been the one pitcher the Astros could not solve. Since the middle of 2024, he had spun 71 innings against Houston without allowing a single ball to leave the park. He got weak contact. He got strikeouts. He got the swings he wanted from just about everyone in the Astros lineup.
Alvarez was tired of it. He took a first-pitch fastball that caught too much of the plate and drove it into the visitor’s bullpen. The ball left the bat at 112 miles per hour. Kirby did not even bother to turn and watch. He knew.
The homer came in the top of the sixth with two on and the game tied at two. It flipped the entire night. Seattle’s bullpen was already warming, and manager Dan Wilson had to make the call one batter earlier than he wanted.
For Houston, this is exactly the version of Yordan they need down the stretch. He struggled through May and June with a hand issue that sapped his power. In July he started to look like himself. On Thursday he looked like the guy who won a batting title and a home run title in the same season and finished second in MVP voting a year ago.
The Astros are locked in a three-way race for the AL West with the Mariners and Rangers. Every head-to-head game against Seattle matters. Every big hit off a Seattle ace matters more.
Kirby said after the game that he thought he executed the pitch. He did not. It was 96 on the inside corner, but it caught too much plate, and Alvarez is not the guy you want to leave a pitch to. Even so, Kirby is going to be fine. He is a 27-year-old right-hander with a Cy Young ceiling and one bad pitch does not change that.
What it does change is the Astros’ mental hold on him. Alvarez broke the psychological grip Kirby had built up. The next time these teams meet, Houston hitters step in knowing they can do damage. That matters in a division race.
Alvarez now has 25 home runs on the season and is on pace to finish with 34 despite missing five weeks with the hand. If the Astros make another playoff run, this is the guy who leads them there. He has done it before. He will probably do it again.
The AL West is going to come down to the last week. Thursday’s game was a reminder of why.
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.
