HOUSTON -- Some scant “M-V-P!” chants made their way around Minute Maid Park on Tuesday night when Astros slugger Yordan Alvarez came to the plate in the eighth inning, moments after he threw out a runner at the plate from left field for a crucial inning-ending double play. 

By the time Alvarez had finished circling the bases following his 25th homer of the season, the chants had filled every crevice of the ballpark. Some of Alvarez’s teammates got into the act, too, with outfielder Chas McCormick encouraging the crowd to get louder from the dugout.

“It felt exciting that the fanbase is calling for that, so it definitely felt good,” Alvarez said.  

There’s no denying Alvarez is one of the game’s top young sluggers, but he showed in the Astros’ 9-7 win over the Royals -- Houston’s eighth win in a row -- that he’s more than than just a threat at the plate. Alvarez’s rocket throw home to end the top of the eighth was a reminder of the strides he’s made as a capable left fielder, as well.

“Just a big momentum swing there in a tight game, and that’s what great players like Yordan do on both sides of the ball,” said Astros third baseman Alex Bregman, who went 3-for-5 with a two-run homer. “Just a huge play defensively and then comes up and adds some insurance.”

Alvarez is a complete ballplayer, which should help his case for the American League Most Valuable Player Award at season’s end. He’s started 32 games in left field this year and 38 at designated hitter, which he played almost exclusively his rookie season in 2019. Last year, he started a career-high 38 games in left.

“He’s worked on his defense a lot,” Astros manager Dusty Baker said. “He’s out there every day working. I still have to kind of protect him and keep him strong and DH him equal to playing him [in left field]. We certainly can’t lose this guy in the lineup.”

The eighth was one of the most up-and-down innings of the season for the Astros, who had an 8-5 lead through seven innings. The Astros appeared to turn a double play early in the inning, but the Royals successfully challenged that both runners were safe, arguing second baseman Jose Altuve didn’t touch second base on the forceout and his throw to first base was late. The review umpire agreed.

“You go from two outs and nobody on base [to a] man on first and second and nobody out,” Baker said.

Astros reliever Bryan Abreu walked in a run with one out and was yanked from the game. Reliever Rafael Montero came in and got Nicky Lopez to hit a fly ball to left field. Alvarez took a few steps back to his right and then threw a 92.5 mph laser to catcher Martín Maldonado, who applied a difficult tag on a sliding Hunter Dozier to end the inning.

“That situation of the game there, it’s a really close game,” Alvarez said. “If that runs scores, if I make a bad throw, obviously, the game would be very different. It doesn’t surprise me they would try to take that base, especially in that situation.” 

Bregman was on the infield grass and started to jump up so he could catch a possible cut-off throw, only to watch the ball sail over his head and into the mitt of Maldonado.

“I think [Alvarez is] really good out there, especially throwing,” Bregman said. “He has an extremely good arm and he’s very accurate. At first, I was like, ‘Oh, he overthrew me,’ and then I was like, ‘Oh, [Dozier is] out.’ No, I didn’t think we had a chance and then all of a sudden, he’s out.”

Alvarez came to the plate with two outs in the bottom half of the inning and hit an opposite-field homer into the Crawford Boxes, sending the crowd into an “M-V-P"-chanting frenzy. Alvarez, who hit a walk-off homer Monday, leads the Majors in OPS (1.076) and slugging (.663) and is second in homers to Aaron Judge. Alvarez and Shohei Ohtani of the Angels are the finalists at DH in the All-Star Final Ballot, but Alvarez -- like Ohtani -- is more than just a DH. 

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“When the fly ball was hit, I just focused,” he said. “I thought I would have a chance at home if I made a really good throw, and that was kind of where my focus was, to make a good, strong through there.”