Three Houston Homers in the 8th Bury Miami, 5-2

Houston needed just one inning to turn a tied game into a comfortable win. Yordan Alvarez and Isaac Paredes went back-to-back in the eighth, capping a three-run frame that put the Marlins away for good.

For seven innings, this looked like Sandy Alcantara's game to lose — and eventually, it was. The Miami right-hander gave up 9 hits and 5 earned runs across 7.0 innings, but the damage was front-loaded and back-loaded in the worst possible way. Houston drew first blood in the second when Nick Allen singled to right, scoring Diaz and moving Spence to third. Jeremy Peña made it 2-0 an inning later with a 383-foot shot to left. Miami answered in the fourth — Javier Sanoja doubled to right to score Conine, then Joe Mack singled to left to score Sanoja — and just like that, it was a tied ballgame at 2. For the next four innings, both offenses went quiet, and it looked like either team could steal this one.

Then the eighth happened. With Houston's win probability sitting at 72%, Alvarez stepped in and launched a 394-foot home run to left center, Peña scoring ahead of him to make it 4-2. The win probability swung from 72% to 95% on that single swing — a 23-point lurch that effectively ended Miami's night. Paredes wasn't done. He followed immediately with a 398-foot shot to left center of his own, pushing the lead to 5-2 and turning a tense game into a formality. Three home runs in one inning from three different hitters is the kind of inning that looks like a lineup announcing itself.

On the mound, Peter Lambert did enough. Six innings, 6 hits, 2 earned runs, 2 walks, and 3 strikeouts — not dominant, but serviceable enough to hand a lead to the bullpen. Enyel De Los Santos closed things out with a clean inning, allowing 1 hit and striking out 2. Calvin Faucher was sharp in relief for Miami — 1.0 inning, no hits, no runs, 2 strikeouts — but by the time he took the ball, the game was already decided. The story of the night was Houston's power: Peña went 3-for-4 with a homer and scored twice, Alvarez drove in 2, and Paredes added his own solo shot. Three different Astros went deep, and all three came in the game's decisive moments. Miami simply had no answer for it.