Houston Astros rookie slugger Yordan Alvarez homered and knocked in a pair of runs Monday night in an 11-1 win over the Oakland A’s, making him the first player to have 35 RBIs in his first 30 career games since runs batted in became an official statistic in 1920.
Alvarez, 22, passed Albert Pujols, who had 34 in his first 30 games with the St. Louis Cardinals in 2001.
“I was very happy and very grateful (about the record), something I just found out about when I got here to the clubhouse,” Alvarez said through an interpreter.
“Especially with (Pujols), it’s an honor and a privilege. When we were in Anaheim, I spoke with him and he gave me a lot of advice, a lot of information to help me out.”
The left-handed slugger from Cuba is now hitting .342 with 11 home runs and 35 RBIs since making his major league debut with the Astros on June 9. At the time, he was tearing up the Pacific Coast League with 23 home runs and 71 RBIs in 56 games.
Astros general manager Jeff Luhnow took to Twitter to laud Alvarez.
Cuban power!!! Yordan, Yuli, Aledmys! 🇨🇺
— Jeff Luhnow (@jluhnow) July 23, 2019
Alvarez was one of three Cuban-born Astros players — along with Yuli Gurriel and Aledmys Diaz — to homer in the 11-1 trouncing of the A’s Monday night. That had happened only once before in MLB history, when Jose Abreu, Alexei Ramírez and Dayan Viciedo did it for the White Sox in 2014.