The Buzz — Friday, September 25

Lucas Spence

The take Rookie hits first three HRs same game, historic Astros lift

The three homers are the highlight, and they are genuinely rare — only Seby Zavala and Joshua Báez had ever hit their first three career home runs in the same game, and Spence did it with 40 at-bats of prior evidence that he could not. But the night's real number is 9-4. That is Houston's record against Texas, the tiebreaker that kept the Astros (79-80) level with the Rangers (79-80) and in control of the AL West with three games left.

The breakout was the show; the standings are the receipt. A 79-80 team does not usually own its October path, and the reason this one does is that a recent call-up drove in five runs to keep the math alive.

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Pete Crow-Armstrong

The take PCA hits 40-40 on clinch day, MVP favorite

Forty-five home runs and forty stolen bases — the seventh 40-40 season in major-league history, and only the third ever with at least 45 homers in it. The crowd calling him the MVP favorite is not getting ahead of the evidence; the Cubs' own executives are already saying it out loud, and the league will vote soon enough.

What makes the night land harder than any stat line is the timing. His 40th steal came in the first inning of a 2-1 win over the Marlins — the same 2-1 win that clinched Chicago's second straight postseason berth. The milestone and the clinch arrived in the same game, on the same scoreboard, and the fact that it was close enough for both to matter is what separates a stat-padding night from a season-defining one. The talk holds.

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George Lombard Jr.

The take Rookie acrobatic slide and clutch HR fuel Yankees buzz

The slide is what the phones caught, and it was legitimate — a wild pitch to the backstop, a ricochet to catcher Liam Hicks, and Lombard going feet-first, popping up, hopping over Hicks's diving tag while twisting fair, and slapping the plate with his right hand to make it 4-3 in the seventh. Body control turned a probable out into the run that kept the comeback alive.

The swing is what won it. In the eighth, his seventh home run of the season — a go-ahead two-run shot off Steven Matz into the left-field second deck — capped a 6-4 comeback from 4-0 down, with three RBI on the night. Four homers in his last seven games, and at 21 years and 114 days he is the second-youngest Yankee ever to go deep in the eighth or later with the lead on the line, behind only Mickey Mantle.

The full-season line tells the rest. He is at .243/.292/.426 across 148 at-bats since his August 4 debut — a midseason call-up still finding the league, not a finished product. But what the Yankees have is a 21-year-old shortstop already producing in leverage while he adjusts, and four homers in seven games is a pattern, not a fluke. The acrobatics get the replay. The power in the eighth is what keeps it.

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Kyle Schwarber

The take Schwarber tied for MLB HR lead amid Phillies playoff push

Nobody is surprised, and that is the point. Forty-five home runs, tied for the major-league lead, his fourth 40-homer season with the Phillies — matching Ryan Howard for the most in franchise history. What is not settled is whether the Phillies can close six on Atlanta, and Schwarber is the one bat that can erase that distance in a single night. They are 87-72 and still chasing. He is why they are close enough to chase.

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Kyle Teel

The take Teel homers in White Sox playoff-clinching rout

The White Sox are 82-77 and headed to October — the first team to reach the playoffs after consecutive 100-loss seasons. A 9-1 rout of the Royals sealed it, and a club that had three straight 100-plus-loss seasons is still playing.

Teel reached base five times in the clincher: a solo home run in the fourth, two hits, a walk, and two hit-by-pitches, scoring three runs with one RBI. That is a complete night from a catcher hitting .196 with five home runs on the season — a player whose line says limited duty, whose biggest game says otherwise. The standings are the story, and Teel's name is in the box score that ended the losing.

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