Is the American League Most Valuable Player race now a two-person competition between the Rays’ Junior Caminero and Astros designated hitter Yordan Alvarez? Not so fast, Alvarez’s manager Joe Espada and his teammates said Thursday, after the Astros slugger slammed his 40th homer of the season in a 6-2 win over the Royals at Daikin Park. Alvarez became the fifth player in franchise history to reach that mark. “Obviously, Yordan is our horse,” said Astros shortstop Jeremy Peña, who went 8-for-13 with three homers during the three-game series vs. the Royals. “When he goes we go. He’s been doing it all year. He’s been carrying us all year and he’s a key piece in the lineup.” Peña’s second leadoff homer in three games Thursday made him the fifth Astros player this year to reach 20 homers, joining Alvarez, Isaac Paredes, Cam Smith and Christian Walker. The Astros clubbed a season-high five home runs -- all solo shots -- with Alvarez taking Seth Lugo deep in the fifth to join Caminero (41) as the only players in the AL with at least 40 homers this year. Alvarez is tied with the Rays' Chandler Simpson in AL batting average (.311) and is second in RBIs (99) behind the Orioles’ Pete Alonso (102), so a Triple Crown is still very much within reach. Alvarez went 4-for-10 in the Royals series with two homers following a 35-game stretch in which he slashed just .242/.380/.383 with three homers (since Aug. 3) to allow Caminero to close the gap in the MVP race. “Our club, without him, would be a completely different record,” said Espada. “Credit to our players. This is a team, everybody contributes, but without Yordan we could be in a completely different spot. That’s why he’s the MVP to this team and he’s the Most Valuable Player to this league. I’m very biased. This guy from day one has done it. He’s gotten the biggest hits for us. Without him we couldn’t be in first place. We couldn’t be in this position.” The Astros (77-76) moved one game ahead of the second-place Rangers in the American League West after Texas lost 4-3 to the Red Sox on Thursday, with nine games remaining. Houston owns the tiebreaker. Alvarez’s 40th homer put the Astros up 4-1. LaMonte Wade Jr. had a solo shot of his own earlier in the inning, following Peña's leadoff homer in the first inning and Daulton Varsho's blast in the second. Taylor Trammell added a solo homer in the eighth.
