HOUSTON (AP) — Long established as a star at the plate, Yordan Alvarez has been showing flashes of brilliance on defense this season, too.
Alvarez threw out Hunter Dozier at the plate from just short of the warning track in left field to preserve a two-run, eighth-inning lead, then hit his 25th homer as the Houston Astros beat the Kansas City Royals 9-7 on Tuesday night.
The Astros also got homers from Jeremy Peña, Alex Bregman and Aledmys Díaz as they extended their winning streak to a major league-best eight games.
Houston trailed 4-3 entering the fifth inning before Peña homered off Zack Greinke (2-5) to tie it. Bregman’s two-run shot later in the fifth put the Astros ahead 6-4.
Alvarez's 25 homers are tied with Philadelphia's Kyle Schwarber for second in the majors, four behind the Yankees' Aaron Judge.
Luis Garcia (7-5) allowed eight hits and five runs in 6 1/3 innings for his fourth straight win. Rafael Montero allowed a run on a groundout in the ninth before striking out the next two batters for his sixth save.
Greinke tied a season high by allowing 10 hits with six runs in five innings in his first start against Houston since signing with the Royals in the offseason. The veteran spent 2 1/2 seasons with the Astros, going to the World Series in 2019 and last year.
MJ Melendez hit a solo homer off Garcia in the second and Bobby Witt Jr. connected off him for a two-run shot in the third. It was the third home run of the series for Melendez, who went deep twice in the series opener on Monday.
Díaz hit a two-run homer in the seventh off Kowar.