WASHINGTON, D.C., USA — Yordan Alvarez’s home run that put the Astros up 2-0 on the Nationals is one for the record books.
Alvarez went deep off Nationals starter Joe Ross in the second inning of World Series Game 5, making the Astros’ slugger the youngest Cuban-born player to ever hit a home run in a World Series game.
Alvarez is 22 years and 122 days old. That’s younger than Jose Canseco, who had held the mark.
On the night, he had three hits, making him the youngest American League player with a 3-hit World Series game since Tony Kubek did it in 1957, according to MLB Stats.
Alvarez started to come out of a postseason slump in the first two World Series games in Houston, but sat in games 3 and 4 in D.C. He was back in the lineup for Game 5, rewarding A.J. Hinch with the longball to give Houston the early lead.
If he can get back to his Rookie-of-the-Year form in the home stretch of the World Series, it would go a long way towards getting Houston its second MLB title in the last three years.