HOUSTON -- The center-field fence at Minute Maid Park sits 409 feet away from home plate. The green batter's eye that resides behind it stands 40 feet tall. Players don't ever hit baseballs beyond it.
And yet Saturday night, with the game in doubt and a title on the line, Yordan Alvarez did.
His sixth-inning home run, against the left-handed reliever brought in exclusively to retire him, traveled 450 feet to straightaway center field, clearing the towering batter's eye, scoring three runs, sending his jubilant teammates streaming onto the field and propelling the Houston Astros to a 4-1, title-clinching victory over the Philadelphia Phillies in Game 6.