Fastball

Houston Astros Shut Out St. Louis Cardinals as Yordan Alvarez Hits Historic Home Run

The Astros are out to a sluggish 8-9 start but they did get a nice win on the road on Tuesday against the National League Central foes.
Brady Farkas|
Houston Astros designated hitter Yordan Alvarez (44) runs to first base on a double as Los Angeles Angels starting pitcher Tyler Anderson (31) looks on during the sixth inning at Daikin Park on April 12.
Houston Astros designated hitter Yordan Alvarez (44) runs to first base on a double as Los Angeles Angels starting pitcher Tyler Anderson (31) looks on during the sixth inning at Daikin Park on April 12. | Troy Taormina-Imagn Images

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Houston Astros

The Houston Astros moved to 8-9 on the young season on Tuesday with a 2-0 win over the St. Louis Cardinals in St. Louis.

Hunter Brown dominated on the mound, going 6.0 shutout innings. He gave up just four hits and two walks while striking out four. He's now 2-1 with a 1.50 ERA. Josh Hader earned his fourth save of the year with a scoreless ninth.

Erick Fedde was the tough-luck loser for St. Louis, giving up just one earned run over 6.0 innings.

Yordan Alvarez provided the big blast for Houston, hitting his second home run of the year in the eighth inning to turn a 1-0 lead into a 2-0 lead.

Per Francys Romero, Alvarez now has 166 career home runs, which is tied for eighth in team history with Glenn Davis.

Alvarez, one of the best sluggers in baseball over the last several years, is out to a slow start. Along with the two homers, he's hitting just .224. He has 10 RBIs.

Lifetime, he's a .296 hitter and he's coming off a year in which he hit 35 homers and drove in 86 as the Astros won the American League West again.

Houston will be back at it again on Wednesday afternoon when they take on the Cardinals at 1:15 p.m. ET. Right-hander Ronel Blanco will take the ball against Steven Matz.

Blanco is 1-1 with a 6.94 ERA while Matz is 0-0 with a 2.31 ERA.

The Astros will be off on Thursday before playing the Padres over the weekend.

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Brady Farkas
BRADY FARKAS

Brady Farkas is a baseball writer for Fastball on Sports Illustrated/FanNation and the host of 'The Payoff Pitch' podcast which can be found on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Videos on baseball also posted to YouTube. Brady has spent nearly a decade in sports talk radio and is a graduate of Oswego State University. You can follow him on Twitter @WDEVRadioBrady. 

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