Central Plains FFA Chapter

07/11 21:54 CDT Alvarez hits AL-leading 31st homer, Wade has first career grand slam and Astros beat Rangers 9-3 Alvarez hits AL-leading 31st homer, Wade has first career grand slam and Astros beat Rangers 9-3 By STEPHEN HAWKINS AP Baseball Writer ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) --- Yordan Alvarez had another moonshot for his AL-leading 31st home run, LaMonte Wade Jr. hit his first career grand slam and the Houston Astros beat the Texas Rangers 9-3 on Saturday night. The Astros led for good after Alvarez, also the AL leader with 70 RBIs, hit a two-run homer 425 feet to straightaway center in the first inning, a night after a towering 455-foot blast pulled to right in the series opener. The American League All-Star starting designated hitter is one behind National League All-Star DH Kyle Schwarber for the major league lead in homers. Peter Lambert (8-5) pitched three-hit ball over six innings while striking out seven and walking one. The right-hander, who didn't make the Astros roster out of spring training, is 6-1 with a 2.84 ERA over his last nine starts. Ezequiel Durn homered twice for the AL West-leading Rangers (48-47). He had a solo shot off Lambert in the fourth, and added a two-run homer in the ninth. Wade's slam in the second was his 57th career homer and his second in nine games with the Astros (47-50). Christian Vzquez went deep leading off the third to make it 7-0, when they already had eight of their 10 hits. All three Houston homers came off Texas starter Kumar Rocker (2-8), who struck out six, but walked two and also hit a batter over 5 2/3 innings. Alvarez, now with 201 career homers, also had a double and walked twice. He has hit .455 (10 of 22) with seven homers and 11 RBIs in six games this season at Globe Life Field.

Up next Houston's Cristian Javier (0-1, 10.22 ERA), who missed nearly three months because of a right shoulder strain, makes his first start since April 8 in the series finale Sunday going into the All-Star break. The Rangers go with MacKenzie Gore (5-8, 4.72), who pitched five innings Wednesday in a loss to the Angels, in place of Jacob deGrom (left glute strain). ___ AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb