May 22—MILWAUKEE — Make it eight straight wins and counting for the Astros, thanks to a power barrage they’ve been waiting to see all season.

Houston hit a season-high five home runs Monday night in blasting the Milwaukee Brewers 12-2 in the opener of their three-game series at American Family Field. The win was the 11th in the past 12 games for the Astros (28-19), who moved within a game of firstplace Texas in the American League West.

Yordan Alvarez led the way with two homers, including a grand slam, while Corey Julks, Martín Maldonado and Mauricio Dubón — with his first of the season — also went deep. Brewers ace Corbin Burnes had allowed five homers in 51 2/3 innings entering the game, but the Astros took him deep four times in five innings.

Alvarez drove in five runs while Julks, who finished a triple shy of the cycle, knocked in three. The Astros had a season-high 15 hits, surpassing the previous best of 13.

That was more than enough run support for Cristian Javier, who turned in his fourth straight quality start, working six innings of one-run ball. He allowed four hits and struck out five to one walk.

Here are some takeaways from the win: Strategy backfires

With one out, the bases loaded and Alvarez up in the sixth inning, Brewers manager Craig Counsell summoned Hoby Milner from the bullpen for a lefty/lefty matchup against Alvarez.

Conventional baseball wisdom might say it makes sense, but conventional wisdom has rarely applied to Alvarez during the sublime start to his career. He entered the game with reverse splits, hitting .328 against lefthanded pitching compared to .270 against righthanders, with a .621 slugging percentage against lefties to .539 against righties.

It took Alvarez one pitch to make Counsell rue his decision, as he crushed an 89.4 mph sinker Milner left over the plate 383 feet over the fence in left-center field for his second grand slam of the season.

For the first time in his career, Alvarez has hit multiple grand slams in a season. He had hit one in 2019 and one in 2022.

Meyers robs Miller, and vice versa While the final score was lopsided, Astros center fielder Jake Meyers had the key defensive play of Monday’s game that blunted some early Brewers momentum.

After Milwaukee drew within 2-1 on Rowdy Tellez’s leadoff homer in the second inning, the Brewers had the tying run on first base with two outs.

Owen Miller then hit a ball to deep center field, with Meyers making a stellar running catch and then crashing into the wall, robbing Miller of extra bases and the tying RBI.

Two innings later, it was Miller’s turn to rob Meyers of likely extra bases. With runners on second and third, Meyers hit a ground ball up the third-base line. Miller, however, made a diving stop to his right and threw out Meyers at first, albeit with a run scoring.

Around the league for Maldonado Astros catcher Maldonado’s second-inning home run was the 99th of his career and gave him round-trippers against all 30 major league teams.

The homer came in just his seventh career at-bat against the Brewers, the team he broke in with in 2011 and spent his first six big league seasons with.

Maldonado has three home runs this season, with two coming off aces: the Angels’ Shohei Ohtani and Brewers’ Burnes.

Peña scare

The Astros got a scare in the eighth inning, when shortstop Jeremy Peña was hit on the top of his left hand by a 98.8 mph fastball by Trevor Megill.

Trainer Jeremiah Randall and manager Dusty Baker came out to check on Peña, who stayed in the game to run the bases and was back out at shortstop during the next half-inning.