HOUSTON -- There was really no foolproof move the White Sox could have made in Friday night’s seventh inning, with Astros slugger Yordan Alvarez coming to the plate and nowhere to put him. Do you leave in the right-hander? Do you bring in the southpaw and play the odds on a lefty-on-lefty matchup?

It turned out to be a lose-lose proposition for White Sox manager Pedro Grifol, who summoned lefty Jake Diekman from the bullpen and watched him give up a three-run double to the fearsome Alvarez. That woke up the crowd at Minute Maid Park and turned out to be the difference in the Astros’ 6-3 win over the White Sox.

“I think everybody knows I've been in those moments before,” Alvarez said. “I just tried to stay calm, try to get a good pitch to hit and we got the result.”

Alvarez had a few of those moments in the playoffs last year, when he hit three go-ahead homers in the sixth inning or later in Houston’s championship run. His three-run, 450-foot homer off Phillies reliever José Alvarado in the sixth inning essentially put away Game 6 of the World Series last year and further etched Alvarez’s name in Houston postseason lore.

The stakes weren’t anywhere as high on Friday, in the second game of the season against the White Sox. The Astros’ late five-run rally -- Kyle Tucker hit a two-run homer in the sixth to cut Chicago’s lead to 3-2 -- and Alvarez’s three-run double provided a needed spark to an offense missing injured stars Jose Altuve and Michael Brantley.

“He cleared the bases,” Astros manager Dusty Baker said. “The swing by Tucker was equally as important. … We got some big hits tonight. We waited awhile, but it doesn’t matter, just as long as you’re winning the game. We had a big inning and that was huge with some two-out hits.”

The Astros were trailing, 3-2, in the seventh with no runners on base and two outs when they rallied against Kendall Graveman, who loaded the bases by yielding two walks and a single. Alvarez came to the plate to the roar of the crowd -- and a pitching change. Diekman, a lefty, replaced Graveman, a right-hander.

“I saw that they went out and talked to the pitcher, the trainer came out for a little bit,” Alvarez said. “I figured they were going to be stalling a little bit, so I prepared myself and knew I was going to face the lefty. I faced him before and I was ready.”

• Peña’s cleats become children’s coloring book

Alvarez drilled a 1-0 sinker to the wall in left-center and over the head of left fielder Andrew Benintendi, whose diving catch in left field at Minute Maid Park clinched the 2018 pennant when he was still with the Red Sox. He couldn’t quite corral this one, with Martín Maldonado, Jeremy Peña and Alex Bregman scoring to make it 5-3.

“We’ve seen it over and over and over again,” Baker said. “The guy’s been a big-time run-producer. … We feel very confident when he’s at the plate. The fans feel confident because they’ve seen it a number of times. He hits lefties so well, [as] the opposing manager, it’s something you almost have to do. If you don’t bring the lefty in, they’re going to ask why you didn’t bring in a lefty. You’re still trying to play the odds. The guy’s been great.”

Alvarez’s 33 RBIs by a left-handed hitter against left-handed pitchers were the third-most in the Major Leagues last season, behind Tucker (47) and Atlanta’s Matt Olson (36).

"Alvarez is just a good hitter,” Grifol said. “[Diekman] left a fastball out over the plate a little bit and [Alvarez] made a good swing on it. I liked the matchup, for sure.”

Baker said prior to Thursday’s season-opener that he wouldn’t be able to play Alvarez every day early on, since he was limited to seven at-bats in the spring. Alvarez showed up at camp with a sore left hand and didn’t get into a Grapefruit League game until the final week of spring, but he had been working extensively on his defense on the back fields.

Alas, Baker said Alvarez will be in the lineup at designated hitter on Saturday.

“I feel good physically, but that is something we talked about in Spring Training,” Alvarez said. “I didn't play in a lot of games and that’s something we talked about -- maybe play three games and rest a day. Maybe until we get in the heat of it and be ready to go.”