Cemented as starters, Houston's lower-order trio shows promise

HOUSTON -- The Astros have one of the deepest and most dangerous offenses in baseball, a point they reminded everyone of Thursday by pounding out 13 hits in a 5-4 loss to the Yankees, who spoiled the managerial debut of Joe Espada at Minute Maid Park.

The top four hitters in the order -- Jose Altuve, Yordan Alvarez, Kyle Tucker and Alex Bregman -- are as dynamic as they come, but the most impressive Opening Day swings came from players the Astros would be thrilled to get that kind of production from all season.

Chas McCormick had a two-run single in the first inning, Jake Meyers crushed a homer with his first swing to lead off the second and put the Astros ahead, 4-0, and Yainer Diaz, taking over at starting catcher for Martín Maldonado, had three hits and drove in a run.

“Opening Day, first at-bat to come through with two outs there, it was great,” McCormick said. “I thought we played well in the beginning, just to punch them in the face like that in the first two, three innings. They did a good job getting their momentum back and being able to win.”

The Yankees rallied against Astros starter Framber Valdez, who walked a career-high-tying six batters in 4 2/3 innings for their biggest come-from-behind win on Opening Day since 1950. Valdez struggled to find his control from the get-go, but he escaped trouble in the first, second and fourth innings by generating inning-ending double plays -- twice with the bases loaded.

Meanwhile, Yankees starter Nestor Cortes righted the ship after a rocky start against the Astros’ lineup and allowed only one hit in four innings after the Meyers homer.

“He kept pounding the zone and making pitches,” Espada said. “We expanded our zone to try to do a little bit too much there, but he came out swinging and we put up some really good ABs early. Cortes really settled in and gave them a chance.”

Houston’s 13 hits are tied for the fourth-most in franchise history on Opening Day, and their most to start a season since having 14 hits in 2003 against the Rockies.

“I thought our lineup was solid tonight,” McCormick said. “Obviously, we let off the gas a little bit and Nestor settled in and I thought their bullpen did a good job. You have to give credit to them and they started to come back offensively. It’s the first game, and we’ve got tons of games left.”

McCormick begins the season firmly entrenched as a starter for the first time, unlike last year when he often sat against right-handers. He slashed .273/.353/.489 with 22 homers, 70 RBIs and 19 stolen bases last year and worked on widening his stance in the spring to get better swings. So far, so good.

“I’ve still got work to do,” he said. “I’ve got tons of at-bats left. I just wish we were able to come through tonight.”

The Astros showed confidence in Meyers by naming him their starting center fielder in December, and he responded with a good spring. Meyers seems more confident and at ease than at any point since he suffered a major shoulder injury crashing into the wall in the ALDS in 2021. His homer left the bat at 110 mph and traveled 415 feet over the left-field wall -- a no-doubt shot.

“He had a game plan and executed the game play,” Espada said. “He was looking for that cutter in and he got it and he deposited it in the seats. Super encouraging to see Jake swinging the bat with confidence again.”

Meyers showed some rare emotion when he hit the dugout with a smile on his face.

“I don’t know if I’ve barreled one up like that to my pull side,” he said. “That was fun.”

There’s little doubt Diaz has the ability to put the bat on the ball, which he showed last year when hit .282 with 23 homers and 60 RBIs in 104 games en route to finishing fifth in the American League Rookie of the Year voting. He is the first Astros player to have three hits in an Opening Day game since Michael Brantley in 2021.

“That’s exactly the Yainer Diaz we want to see,” Espada said. “He actually stayed in the zone and swung at really good pitches. Really good swings and hit the ball three times.”