Alvarez muscles way to pro-best six RBIs

Minor League Baseball's top slugger was at it again Thursday night.
Houston's third-ranked prospectYordan Alvarez drove in a career-high six runs with two homers and a double and scored three times as Triple-A Round Rock topped Nashville, 10-4, at Dell Diamond.

The left-handed basher is tied with Reno's Kevin Cron for the Minor League lead with 17 homers, leads the Pacific Coast League with 53 RBIs and has driven in two or more runs in 15 games. Alvarez's previous single-game high of five RBIs was set June 4, 2017, with Class A Quad Cities and equaled on April 16, also against Nashville.
Through 35 games, MLB.com's No. 26 overall prospect also leads the Minor Leagues in runs (36), extra-base hits (32), slugging (.903), OBP (.497) and OPS (1.400). His longest homerless drought has been 17 at-bats.
In the first inning, Alvarez belted a three-run dinger off Sounds right-hander Phillips Valdez, driving a 3-1 pitch over the left-center field wall to score Alex De Goti and Astros No. 14 prospect Myles Straw.
Gameday box score
After flying out to center in the third, the 21-year-old roughed up Valdez again in the fifth. Working the count full, the Las Tunas, Cuba, native went opposite field, hitting a towering two-out solo homer to left.
"I was looking for those pitches and I tried to make sure I had good contact," he said, adding that the end goal is to drive the ball hard no matter where it is on the plate.
Facing Nashville lefty Brady Feigl in the sixth, Alvarez grounded out to end the frame.
In the eighth, Alvarez doubled off left-handed reliever CD Pelham, the Rangers' No. 15 prospect, stroking a one-out line drive to left to plate De Goti and Derek Fisher. He scored on a sacrifice fly by Jack Mayfield.
The 6-foot-5, 225-pound outfielder, originally signed by the Dodgers and acquired in 2016 via a trade for Josh Fields, was the first Minor League player to notch a three-homer game this season on April 6 at New Orleans in a 7-5 victory over the Baby Cakes.
Alvarez understands expectations are soaring, but he really is making the effort to concentrate on the job at hand.
"Every day, I just try to do the best I can," he said. "There are always adjustments I have to make. ... Time will be the witness. With God first, everything is possible."

Round Rock righty Jose Hernandez-Urquidy earned his first Triple-A victory following a promotion Wednesday from Double-A Corpus Christi. Houston's No. 30 prospect gave up three runs on five hits while matching his season high with eight strikeouts over five innings.
Fisher went 3-for-5 with an RBI and a run scored.
Texas' No. 16 prospect Eli White homered and singled, extending his hit streak to six games.
Valdez fell to 0-5 after yielding four runs off six hits and a pair of walks in 4 2/3 innings.