Astros Isaac Paredes, Yainer Diaz find home run stroke
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Staff Reports, Staff reports
- April 12, 2025
Isaac Paredes hit his first homer as an Astros
Isaac Paredes had seen several of his moon shots go just foul of the left field pole over his first 12 games as an Astro. So when the All-Star third baseman sent another shot down the line Friday night, it shouldn’t have been a surprise that he didn’t stray far off the plate after crushing it.
The Mexican slugger from Hermosillo, Sonora, took a couple of steps after driving the ball. Then he stayed with one foot inside the batters’ box and one down the first base line to see if it would go fair or foul. Paredes didn’t want to start his home run trot too early.
He surely knew the ball was gone as soon as he hit it, but he didn’t know if it would hook foul or stay fair. The ball hit the Chick-fil-A “Fowl” pole at Daikin Park for Paredes’ first home run as an Astro.
‘Great excitement’
“It was great excitement to see it hit the foul pole,” Paredes said after the Astros beat the Angels 14-3.
On a night the Astros feasted offensively, it was a good sign to see Isaac Paredes rewarded for continually having some of the best at-bats on the team this season. There was plenty to celebrate for the Astros in the opener of a three-game series.
Rookie Cam Smith hit his first career home run. Catcher Yainer Diaz, who had struggled at the plate this season, went off. Diaz hit a grand slam and an RBI double to finish 3-for-4 with a career-high five RBIs.
“Yes, I’ve had some difficult weeks,” Diaz said. “But I keep believing in the process. … My routine is the same.”
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Diaz put his early season struggles in perspective. Like most natives of the Dominican Republic, he has been in mourning this week. He thought of the more than 220 victims who died when a roof collapsed at the Jet Set nightclub in Santo Domingo.
Former Astros closer Octavio Dotel, merengue star Rubby Perez, and the sister of former MLB All-Star Nelson Cruz were killed in the accident.
Diaz, Astros honor Dotel
“Sure, it’s a very painful moment,” he said. “Practically I was going through a bad moment personally in the game. But I say perhaps we complain in life because the results aren’t what one wants, but look at those people who are going through a worse moment.
“As you say, it’s something honoring (the victims) so the fans can see and forget that tragedy for a little bit.”
Diaz appreciated the video tribute the Astros gave to Dotel between the first and second innings Friday during their first home game since the tragedy.
“It’s something that’s very good because (Dotel) deserves it,” Diaz said.
Isaac Paredes hopes to build off homer
Diaz entered the series with an 0.61 batting average. He had not collected a hit since April 2, spanning four hitless games. After going 3-for-5, he lifted his batting average to .131.
Isaac Paredes leads the Astros in games with at least three hits with two such games. Nonetheless, he also is off to a slow start. He has not been rewarded for solid at-bats. He had four hits on April 6 to raise his average from .130 to .148.
Paredes was 3-for-4 with two walks and three runs on Friday. He has steadily lifted his average since that four-hit outburst. He’s now on a season-high, three-game hitting streak. The home run was only Paredes’ second extra-base hit of the season and his first since he hit a double on March 31.
“It’s something that I have to capitalize on,” he said.
Featured art courtesy of Houston Astros.
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