CHICAGO — Yordan Alvarez homered in the first inning and drove in a run during a four-run seventh as the Houston Astros rallied past the Chicago White Sox 5-3 on Thursday.
Alvarez made it 1-0 with a 439-foot drive to right against Chris Flexen for his 15th homer, and his single in the seventh tied the game at 3-all. The two-time All-Star finished with three hits after missing the previous two games for a family matter.
He arrived at the ballpark a little over two hours before the first pitch, just enough time to take 10 swings in the batting cage. Alvarez had no trouble locking in when he stepped to the plate, fouling off a fastball before connecting on a cutter.
''I feel like every single time that I miss a couple games, I come back and always hit a homer,'' he said through an interpreter.
Alex Bregman added three hits and scored a run for the Astros, who won their second straight after dropping the opener of a three-game series against the team with the worst record in the majors.
Flexen worked six innings, allowing one run and five hits. The White Sox fell to 20-56 with their 26th loss in 32 games.
Chicago chased Astros starter Spencer Arrighetti in a three-run fifth.
Martín Maldonado led off with a single on a pop fly that deflected off second baseman Jose Altuve's glove and came around on a one-out double by Luis Robert Jr. Andrew Vaughn knocked Arrighetti out of the game with an RBI single, and Andrew Benintendi made it 3-1 with a sacrifice fly against Tayler Scott.
