​Yordan Alvarez was held to one hit in eight at-bats as the White Sox completed a series sweep of the Astros on Wednesday. (Brett Coomer/Houston Chronicle)
The Chicago White Sox have accomplished quite a bit to author an unprecedented turnaround from three straight 100-loss seasons to a playoff team.This season and this week, they did something that few teams in baseball have been able to: Put the clamps on Yordan Alvarez.The Houston Astros’ slugger, a Triple Crown threat for most of the season, the major leagues’ batting champion and seemingly a lock to be American League Most Valuable Player, found himself neutralized this week as the White Sox swept the Astros in their American League wild-card series.The White Sox finished their two-game sweep with a 7-3 win Wednesday night at Daikin Park. In that game, they held Alvarez hitless in four at-bats with two strikeouts, including the Astros’ biggest plate appearance. For the series, he was 1-for-8 with no extra-base hits.”They did a good job and what they did worked for them,” Alvarez said through interpreter Otto Loor.ALSO SEE:5 key moments in Astros’ Game 2 loss to White SoxThe success against Alvarez wasn’t limited to the small sample size of a best-of-3 series. In seven games against the White Sox during the regular season, Alvarez was 4-for-20 with 1 RBI. He had one extra-base hit against Chicago, his fewest against any AL opponent this season.”I mean, we’ll probably have the same attack plan next year, so don’t want to give away all the secrets there,” White Sox manager Will Venable said with a grin. “But (pitching coach) Zach Bove and the pitching department do a great job of kind of picking zones, picking pitch types that they want to attack him with.”At the same time, (Alvarez) hits everything, man, and you’ve really got to do your best to execute and kind of hope for the best. He’s just that talented of a hitter. He doesn’t really have any holes. The few areas that we believe that we could expose, we’ve done a good job executing and were able to kind of suppress his offense.”
Houston Astros Jose Altuve, left, Carlos Correa, and Yordan Alvarez (44) watch as the Chicago White Sox celebrate their 7-3 win in Game 2 of an American League Wild Card Series, eliminating the Astros from the playoffs, in Houston, Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2026. (Brett Coomer/Houston Chronicle)
That was epitomized in unquestionably the Astros’ biggest opportunity Wednesday. After trimming a 4-0 deficit to 4-3, they put two runners on with one out in the fifth inning with Alvarez – whom Venable called “arguably the best hitter on the planet” – coming to the plate.Venable summoned Anthony Kay from the bullpen for a lefty/lefty matchup with Alvarez, who hit .265 with 10 of his 42 homers against southpaws this season.Kay missed outside with his first three pitches before Alvarez took a strike. The fifth pitch, a 97.5 mph sinker on the outer edge, was struck 97.5 mph off the bat by Alvarez – 95 mph is the Statcast t