Alvarez Grand Slam Erases 3-Run Deficit, Astros Stun Twins 6-4
Yordan Alvarez hit a 395-foot home run to right center that cleared the bases and flipped a 3-0 deficit into a 6-3 lead in a single swing. The win probability swung from 25% to 85% on that one at-bat — the entire game lived and died in that fourth inning.
Minnesota came out swinging and looked like the better team for three innings. A hit-by-pitch scored the first run, and then Ryan Kreidler singled to left — a play that turned into a two-run gift when Yordan Alvarez committed a fielding error in left field, letting two runs score and pushing the Twins to a 3-0 lead. Kody Clemens crossed the plate twice in the first inning alone, and Joe Ryan was dealing early trouble to Houston's lineup. For a stretch, this looked like Minnesota's night.
Then the fourth inning happened, and it happened fast. Yainer Diaz singled to left to put Houston on the board at 3-1. A walk to Altuve — upheld after a successful Houston challenge that overturned the original call — brought in another run to make it 3-2. Then Alvarez stepped in. His 395-foot shot to right center scored Diaz, Delgado, and Altuve, turning a two-run deficit into a 6-3 Houston lead in the span of one at-bat. Alvarez finished 3-for-4 with a home run, 4 RBI, and a run scored. The story of the night was that swing — and the fact that the man who gifted Minnesota two runs with an error in the first was the same man who ended the game with one cut in the fourth.
Minnesota didn't fold entirely. Josh Bell doubled to center in the fifth to score Clemens and trim it to 6-4, and Clemens — who scored twice and went 2-for-4 — looks like one of the few Twins hitters who showed up consistently. But Joe Ryan's line tells the real story on the pitching side: 4.0 innings, 6 hits, 6 earned runs, 3 walks, 5 strikeouts. That's a rough outing that put Minnesota in a hole it couldn't fully dig out of. Eric Orze and Marco Raya combined for 4.0 scoreless innings in relief, which appears to be the only silver lining in the bullpen picture. Mike Burrows went 5.0 innings for Houston, allowing 4 earned runs on 6 hits, but his team bailed him out in spectacular fashion before he needed to be perfect. Final: Houston 6, Minnesota 4.