Yordan Álvarez hit a grand slam to reach his 22nd home run this season, the most in the American League, and the Houston Astros beat the A’s 13-2 on Saturday.
Tatsuya Imai struck out eight and received support from Álvarez, who capped a five-run inning by the Astros in the second inning with the fifth grand slam of his major league career, when he found a changeup from starter Kade Morris (0-1) and sent the ball into the right field stands.
Cuban Álvarez leads the American League with 48 RBIs.
LaMonte Wade Jr. and José Altuve also homered for the Astros, who punished Morris in his major league debut and scored all their runs before the sixth inning.
Morris allowed nine runs on nine hits, walked three and struck out four in four innings. The 23-year-old right-hander was selected in the third round of the draft by the New York Mets in 2023 out of the University of Nevada, Reno.
He was traded to the A’s in 2024 for Paul Blackburn.
Astros starter Tatsuya Imai (3-3) rallied to strike out Jeff McNeil to close out the third inning, leaving the bases loaded.
In his second game since coming off the disabled list, Altuve hit his fifth home run of the season and gave the Astros a 7-2 lead in the third inning.
Mexican Isaac Paredes drove in his ninth run in the last four games with a sacrifice fly in the first inning.
