Kyle

Tucker

The original lineup had Tucker in the third spot with Yordan Alvarez hitting second. Instead, Tucker will move up one spot, and Alvarez — who is coming back from a knee bruise that sidelined him the better part of a week — will get the chance to drive in Tucker and Jose Altuve in the third spot.

With the weather bad and the game meaning absolutely nada, there’s no reason to risk anything with Tucker. The Astros made the same decision with Jose Altuve and with Alex Bregman. They’ll all be back in the lineup for Game 1 of the Wild Card round; likely against the Tigers.

Tucker drove in a run with a single in the fourth off Joey Cantillo. The 27-year-old superstar has only driven in 49 runs, but that’s a much better number when you consider how much time he missed with his heel injury. The only reason we can’t say he wouldn’t be an MVP candidate if not for that injury is because Aaron Judge was never losing that award.

Tucker’s home run was his 22nd of the year. He hit a solo shot off Ryan Miller in the seventh inning. Tucker has eight hits and two home runs in the last two games. He’s hitting .289 with a 1.010 OPS and 47 RBI on the year. Tucker might’ve had a special fantasy season if he didn’t miss about three months with a fractured shin.

Tucker singled for his other three hits. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. He scored three runs in the contest, and one of them came on his 21st homer of the season. Fantasy managers are well aware that total is only that “low” because of how much time Tucker missed with his heel injury, and his .278/.403/.575 slash helps explain just how effective he’s been when available in 2024.

Tucker will get a day off Wednesday as the team continues to give the 27-year-old some maintenance days. Jose Altuve is the DH so Yordan Alvarez will start in left field, and Jason Heyward is getting the start in right.

Two bad calls went against the Astros late in this one, but they wound up not mattering. Tucker plated the lone run in the 10th with a single to left. He’s hitting .290 with one homer and five walks in 39 plate appearances since coming off the injured list.

Tucker, who returned to right field on Friday after DHing in his first four games back, was excluded from the starting lineup tonight for the third time in eight games since he came off the IL. It’s awfully disappointing how he’s been used, but the homer tonight, his 20th in 67 games this year, helps a bit.

Yordan Alvarez, who has spent extra time in the outfield with Tucker limited, is doing the DHing tonight. The start tonight is Tucker’s fifth in the seven games since he was activated last week.

It doesn’t seem great that Tucker, who went 0-for-6 last night, can’t even play regularly as a designated hitter. Yordan Alvarez is in that spot today.