Astros’ Yordan Alvarez hits three home runs off Athletics’ Adrián Martínez

Houston Astros designated hitter Yordan Alvarez enjoyed a three-homer game against the Oakland A’s on Friday night at Minute Maid Park. All three home runs came off Oakland starter Adrián Martínez. 

The first homer came in the first inning off a Martínez 95.1 mph sinker. In the third, Alvarez went deep off a 2-2 changeup, and then in the fifth his biggest blast of the night was at the expense of a first-pitch sinker from Martínez. Here’s a look: 

That one traveled 464 feet and stands as one of the longest homers of Alvarez’s career. On the night, Alvarez hit 11,329 feet of homers. As for his third homer above, it was a bit of a surprise at the time that A’s manager Mark Kotsay allowed Martínez to face Alvarez for a third time. That’s especially the case given that left-hander Jared Koenig at the time was warming up in the bullpen. Kotsay’s decision — or non-decision, if you will — allowed Alvarez to become the first player in Astros franchise history to homer three times off the same pitcher in the same game. Friday also marked the second three-homer game of Alvarez’s career. The first one came in 2019.

Alvarez in his age-25 season has put up MVP-caliber numbers. In 120 games, he’s got a slash line of .302/.407/.624 with an updated tally of 36 home runs on the year. Alvarez recently went more than a month without hitting a home run, but at the time of this writing he has five in his last five games.