HOUSTON — Several hours before the Astros hit the field Tuesday night to face the Royals, struggling stars Jeremy Peña and Yordan Alvarez took early batting practice on the field, desperate to break out of their prolonged offensive doldrums.
The Astros’ offense hasn’t been the same since Peña and Alvarez began slumping in early August, but the early work Tuesday appeared to pay off.
Peña homered in his first two at-bats and Alvarez added a two-run homer in the fifth — his 39th of the season — to send the Astros to a 4-2 win over the Royals at Daikin Park. Peña and Alvarez combined to go 4-for-6 with three homers and all four RBIs, while the rest of the Astros’ offense was 0-for-22.
“Careful, you might see the whole entire team there [for early BP on Wednesday],” joked manager Joe Espada.
Said Alvarez: “Tomorrow, we’re going to be there at 3 if you guys want to come see us.”
The Astros (76-75) snapped a three-game losing streak and maintained a one-game lead atop the American League West over the second-place Rangers with 11 games left. Houston owns the tiebreaker with Texas.
Peña’s slump had lasted about six weeks, dropping his batting average from .320 to .268. He entered Tuesday slashing .170/.220/.298 with four home runs in his previous 35 games since Aug. 3. The home runs were his first in September.
“I’m pretty good at turning the page and keeping my head clear and showing up every single day,” Peña said. “I separate the days. Today we had a mission, we won and now we eat dinner, turn the page and show up tomorrow.”
Meanwhile, Alvarez came into Tuesday slashing .242/.380/.383 with three homers in 35 games since Aug. 3, dealing a blow to his bid for the AL Triple Crown and his case for the AL Most Valuable Player award.
“These guys, they want to step up and they want to produce for the team,” Espada said. “They know what they mean to our offense. There are some times you can chase or get away from your approach but it’s very typical. All the great hitters do it.
“But the good ones do what they did today, they just go back to work, they simplify their process, they try to be short and direct and they try to hit the ball in the middle of the field and those are the results,” Espada said.
Alvarez doesn’t hit on the field very much, but took the opportunity Tuesday to see the ball off his bat at Daikin Park while talking through hitting with Peña. They both said they bounced ideas off each other.
“Something that’s funny that happened today is when we finished hitting, Jeremy was saying he didn’t feel comfortable at the plate and his first two at-bats were homers, and I said, ‘Hey, I want to feel as uncomfortable as you,’” Alvarez said.
Astros starter Hunter Brown struck out 10 batters in five innings, allowing one run, two hits and three walks. Houston’s bullpen took it from there, allowing one run on a Vinnie Pasquantino homer off Bennett Sousa in the sixth. Josh Hader set a franchise record with his 26th consecutive save to begin a season without a blown save.
Peña crushed Royals starter Michael Wacha’s first pitch of the game over the left-field wall and hit a second homer to left field in the third to make it 2-0. Peña singled in the fifth inning and scored when Alvarez slammed a two-run homer to right field for a 4-1 lead.
“They’re working and obviously they got some results, which that’s what you want to do, right?” Espada said. “They’re trying to stay short, they’re trying to stay simple, they know what they mean to our offense. I’m glad it paid off. When Jeremy hit that ball, it felt really good. I did not hit it, but when it left the bat, it was like, ‘Oh here we go.’”