Important Astros lineup change could fuel playoff run as offense starts to wake up

Sometimes, when a team has a pair of super sluggers in their batting order, spreading the wealth isn't always the best course of action. Just ask the Houston Astros, who have found unprecedented success of late when batting their two best hitters back-to-back in the order.

Yordan Alvarez and Kyle Tucker have been thriving in the No. 2 and No. 3 slots, respectively, and their dominance was on display in Saturday's win over the Los Angeles Angels. The pair of sluggers racked up four hits apiece, including back-to-back home runs in the seventh inning, fueling a 10-4 win and helping the Astros get closer to clinching an American League West title.

Tucker has an .811 OPS vs. left-handers and 1.134 OPS against right-handed pitchers this season, while Alvarez has a 1.028 OPS against left-handers and .916 OPS against right-handers.

“Right now, they’re two of the best lefty hitters against lefty pitching,” Astros manager Joe Espada said (via Brian McTaggart of MLB.com). “I feel good about having those two guys back-to-back against lefties. Right now, I have no intention of putting a righty in between them. They’re so good at what they do and they get tougher when they bring a lefty in because now they’re just thinking about using the other side of the field. They're tough at-bats.”

Espada has split Alvarez and Tucker up a handful of times since the latter returned from the injured list earlier this month, but he said postgame Saturday that he plans to keep the pair back-to-back going forward.

Yordan Alvarez and Kyle Tucker are fueling Astros' offense as they chase AL West title

Thanks in large part to their dynamic hitting duo, the Astros (85-70) have won eight of their last 10 games and sit comfortably atop the AL West. They are five games ahead of the second-place Seattle Mariners with seven games remaining on the season.

After Sunday's series finale against the Angels, the Astros can clinch the division title as early as Monday, when the Mariners visit Houston for a three-game series.

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