Home Baseball After giving up a crucial HR to Yordan Alvarez of the Astros in the closing moments of ALCS Game 2, Aroldis Chapman attracts derision from the crowd: He blows’

After giving up a crucial HR to Yordan Alvarez of the Astros in the closing moments of ALCS Game 2, Aroldis Chapman attracts derision from the crowd: He blows’

Baseball — 10/17/2023

In the eighth inning of Game 2, Yordan Alvarez took the field against Rangers reliever Aroldis Chapman in a battle of the Cubans. The Astros fought back to tie the ALCS after the Rangers had taken an early lead in game two.

Yordan Alvarez entered the box for his third at-bat of the contest at that point. All eyes in Minute Maid Park were on Yordan, who had earlier in the game hit his league-best sixth home run of the postseason. Alvarez took his countryman far to left on a first pitch fastball, bringing the score to 5-4.

This playoffs, Yordan Alvarez of the Houston Astros has been playing at a very high level. The 26-year-old leads the league in playoff home runs and is hitting.391/.440/.1.261 with an OPS above 1.700. Alvarez has been carrying his club with six home runs in five games.

It’s not the case that Aroldis Chapman is. The 35-year-old, who was formerly well-known for throwing the fastest fastball in contemporary baseball, seems to be aging. Chapman was traded to the Rangers in August after beginning the season with the Kansas City Royals. Several comments that were made in response to Alvarez’s moonshot appeared to be disparaging Chapman.

Yordan Alvarez played in 114 games with the Astros despite missing a significant chunk of the season due to injury. With 31 home runs and 97 RBIs in 2023, Alvarez hit.293/.407/.583, earning his second consecutive All-Star selection. Astros supporters will now be looking to Yordan to find a way to tie the series against the Texas Rangers as they trail by a score of 5-4 in the ninth inning.

October baseball was meant for Yordan Alvarez.

Alvarez has a career slashline of.261/.366/.511 with 12 home runs and 34 RBIs over 11 postseason series. With the exception of one season, Alvarez has experienced playoff baseball since joining the Astros following his departure from Cuba in 2019. Furthermore, he leads all players who were born in Cuba in postseason home runs with twelve of his career home runs. Alvarez might become a permanent fixture in Astros history if the team manages to come back and win the series, if he hasn’t already done so.