Yordan Alvarez belts two homers as Astros beat Twins in Game 1

HOUSTON — With the Twins trailing by a run in the seventh inning Saturday, lefthanded reliever Caleb Thielbar entered to face Yordan Alvarez, one of the best lefthanded hitters in the sport.

Alvarez is unique in that he hits lefties just about as well as he hits righties. On the third pitch of the at-bat, after Alvarez whiffed on a fastball, he proved it.

Thielbar threw a slider on the low, outside corner and Alvarez hooked it down the right field line. Alvarez stood over the plate for a better view. The ball crashed onto the foul pole for a solo home run, the sellout crowd at Minute Maid Park erupted and Alvarez had his second homer of the night.

"We got beat by a guy that has been beating a lot of teams," Twins shortstop Carlos Correa said after a 6-4 loss to the Houston Astros in Game 1 of the American League Division Series. "We have to make some adjustments there. Yordan is a player that ever since he got to the big leagues, he's been carrying that lineup and he did it once again today. We have to work on that a little bit."

Stopping Alvarez is easier said than done. It was the first time a lefthanded hitter homered off Thielbar this season. During the regular season, lefty batters totaled six hits in 47 at-bats against Thielbar with no walks and 14 strikeouts.

Thielbar liked the placement of his slider to Alvarez. This is a pitcher who didn't even give up an extra-base hit on his sweepy version of his slider in 2022.

"Look at where that pitch was," Thielbar said. "You don't see too many lefthanded hitters who can hit that pitch out of the park."

In a one-run game, Twins manager Rocco Baldelli opted to match Thielbar against Alvarez over using righthander Chris Paddack, who retired all four batters he faced. Behind Alvarez in the Astros lineup is Kyle Tucker, a lefthanded batter who has better numbers against lefties than righties this year.

"You'd still probably rather take your chances bringing your good lefties in there and giving guys an opportunity to get him out," Baldelli said. "He just hit an offspeed pitch, stayed through it and found the barrel. He's strong. He doesn't have to get all of it to hit the ball out of the ballpark."

Baldelli plans to keep using Thielbar in that type of situation, he said, so he will likely have another chance at Alvarez in the ALDS.

"That's a move the manager had to make," Astros manager Dusty Baker said. "You have to bring in a lefty for Yordan even though everybody knows he hits them pretty good. I was just hoping that ball stayed fair and hit that [Chick-fil-A] sign up there. You know I love chicken."

Alvarez showed what he could do against righthanded pitching earlier in the game, too. He struck out in the first inning against Twins starter Bailey Ober on three pitches, swinging and missing at a low changeup and a fastball above the strike zone.

When Alvarez came to the plate in the third inning, after Alex Bregman was hit by a pitch, he received a middle-middle changeup and launched the pitch into the right-field seats for a two-run homer.

"I saw a couple videos before facing [Ober] the first time," Alvarez said. "Obviously, it's not the same thing seeing the videos and seeing him in person. He's a really big guy, has really good extension. It surprised me a little bit the first time. The second time I went up to hit, I already had a pretty good idea."

Kenta Maeda didn't throw Alvarez a pitch inside the strike zone during the fifth inning. That didn't work, either. It resulted in a five-pitch walk and Alvarez scored on an RBI single from Chas McCormick.

"He's just one of the best hitters I've played with," Houston starter and winner Justin Verlander said.