Jeremy Peña and Yordan Álvarez Show the Power the Astros Need to Reach October

Three swings were enough for the Houston Astros to return to the winning path on Roberto Clemente Day: two home runs from Jeremy Peña and Yordan Álvarez’s 39th blast of the season produced all the runs in Tuesday’s 4-2 victory over Michael Wacha and the Kansas City Royals.

Peña opened the scoring with a thunderous 440-foot home run to left field at Daikin Park in the first inning, destroying a cutter right down the middle on Wacha’s first pitch of the game. Two innings later, Peña came back to the plate with the bases empty, this time with one out. Wacha began the at-bat with a curveball that stayed slightly high.

Against curveballs, Peña’s swing has been limited to a .143 average with just 4-for-28 and the highest whiff rate (56.6%) among all the pitches he has received this year. So, down 1-0 in the count, Wacha decided to throw the curveball again. The pitch tried to catch the outside corner, but this time Peña let it travel and pulled with fury at the key moment to hit his second home run of the night.

First pitch BOMB for JP3!#ChaseTheFight x @Phillips66Co pic.twitter.com/QxSgtMDGVn
— Houston Astros (@astros) September 16, 2026

With Peña’s 18th and 19th home runs of the season, Houston quickly took a 2-0 lead and never lost control for the rest of the game, even though the Royals cut the score to 2-1 with a Carter Jensen double to begin the fifth against Hunter Brown. For Peña, it was his third multi-home-run game of the season, and his first since July 26, when he also hit a pair of solo home runs against the Chicago White Sox.

In his history against the Royals this year, Peña had no RBIs in 14 plate appearances, but had gone 2-for-5 with an RBI and a walk in his career against Wacha. Now, the interesting question here is whether Peña’s swing will heat up again after going through a concerning slump since the All-Star break.

Houston Astros shortstop Jeremy Pena (21). Mandatory Credit: Troy Taormina-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Before beginning the series against the Royals, over his last 35 games, Peña was batting .193/.240/.359, with five home runs, 13 RBIs and a .599 OPS, but he had struck out 49 times, practically doubling his 28 hits. In the 35 games before those, he hit .326/.374/.556, with nine home runs, 22 RBIs and a .930 OPS. In that stretch, his 44 hits surpassed the 33 strikeouts he had, and he was able to maintain the balance of reaching base as the Astros’ leadoff hitter.

Much of Peña’s problems during this latest stretch have come from his struggles against fastballs, the pitch that, by nature, he usually hits with more consistency. The drop from a .412 average in July to .348 in August did not raise alarms until Peña went just .077 this month against fastballs.

Several hours before the game, there were reports that Peña and Yordan had been taking a long batting practice session. At least for one night, both swings looked good and they made an impact against Wacha, who entered the game with a 1.04 ERA in the three starts he had made in his career against Houston.

Air Yordan is back!

Houston Astros designated hitter Yordan Alvarez (21). Mandatory Credit: Troy Taormina-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

When the Royals tried to get closer, Hunter Brown closed out the start of the fifth, retiring Bobby Witt Jr. to finish a dominant performance with 10 strikeouts, three walks and just two hits allowed. His efficiency was crowned by Yordan Álvarez, who delivered the final blow with a two-run home run that found Peña on base. Wacha’s changeup stayed too high and Yordan lifted it 376 feet to right field. The Astros did not need any more runs and the bullpen did its job, covering the final four innings with one run allowed: a solo home run by Vinnie Pasquantino against left-hander Bennett Sousa in the top of the sixth.

BIG GUY WENT BOOM💥 pic.twitter.com/M814vUmw5n
— Houston Astros (@astros) September 16, 2026

For Yordan, it was just the fourth home run in his last 113 plate appearances, but we know that story can change with some adjustments. After going 1-for-2, his batting average remains at .500 (8-for-16) against Kansas City pitchers this year, with three home runs and eight RBIs in four games.

In his pursuit of the American League Triple Crown, Yordan still leads in batting average with .310, although he has the Tampa Bay Rays’ left fielder, Chandler Simpson, behind him at .308. So, with 39 home runs and 99 RBIs, nothing is lost yet. Junior Caminero, also of the Rays, leads in home runs with 41 and Pete Alonso leads in RBIs with 101.

According to Stathead, Yordan’s performance in the first game of the series back home makes him the leader with a 1.217 OPS on the all-time list of hitters with at least 125 plate appearances against the Royals, followed by Shohei Ohtani with 1.200, Dick Allen with 1.140 and Scott Rolen with 1.118. Perhaps this is the moment for the Cuban slugger to take off again, which would make his Triple Crown race and the Astros’ final stretch fighting for the division pennant much more interesting.

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