CLEVELAND (AP) — A glittering, boxing-style championship belt was draped over Yordan Alvarez's clubhouse chair following Wednesday's win at Cleveland. He was again Houston's biggest star. Undisputed.
At the moment, no one in baseball is shining brighter.
“To be honest with you,” said Astros shortstop Carlos Correa, “2026 Yordan is the closest thing I’ve seen to Barry Bonds.”
Whoa.
Alvarez hit his major league-leading 11th homer, a two-run shot in the
first inning, as the Astros, who have been ravaged by injuries during the season's first month, defeated the Guardians 2-0 to take two of three from the defending AL Central champions.
While the Astros have stumbled out of the gate, Alvarez has been at full stride.
The beefy 6-foot-4 designated hitter leads the majors in homers, RBIs (26), hits (33), extra-base hits (19), total bases (74), on-base percentage (.466), slugging percentage (.779) and OPS (1.245).
No wonder Correa is reminded of the peerless Bonds.
“Aaron Judge has a 1.200 OPS, but Yordan has done it a different way,” Correa said. “He’s not swinging and missing much. He’s not striking out a lot. He's walking a lot, that’s what Barry did.
“Yordan is getting the intentional-walk treatment every time first base is open. I don’t see any other player in the league they do that for.”
Alvarez went 3 for 4 in the series finale, extending his hitting streak to nine games and his on-base streak to 18. He's homered in four of the past six games, and he's become one of the few things manager Joe Espada can count upon.
“He stays within himself and he knows how important it is for him to do damage,” Espada said. “He's a presence and he's carrying us right now.”
After Correa doubled leading off the first against Tanner Bibee, Alvarez followed by yanking a curveball from the right-hander 422 feet over the wall in right field to give the Astros a 2-0 lead that held up for nine innings.
Bibee missed catcher Bo Naylor's target and Alvarez made him pay.
“It was the right pitch in that spot if I threw it where Bo wanted me to throw it,” Bibee said. “It was supposed to be in the dirt, threw it up and that guy, as good as he is and how hot he is right now, it’s going to happen. Just can’t make the mistake.”
Alvarez pulled singles to the right side in his next two at-bats and was retired on a hard groundout to first in the eighth that he thought was foul. Alvarez stood in the batter's box almost stunned that he had made an out.
It's been like that all season.
“At some point you're expecting him to get out because the game is supposed to be so hard,” Correa said. “When he's going that good, you're like, OK he's due to get out here. And he just keeps raking. It's incredible. It's so much fun.
“I haven't missed one swing of his all year because he's must-watch TV.”
Alvarez isn't making too much of his blistering start. After playing in just 48 games last season due to injuries, he's not taking anything for granted while also appreciating how well it's going.
“I just want to find a good pitch and connect on the pitch and things are turning out for me right now,” said Alvarez, who joined Lance Berkman (2002) as the only Astros to hit 11 homers in the first 26 games. “I’m not surprised with my results. That’s why I work so hard. Every at-bat that I have, I go aggressive.”
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