HOUSTON -- The Astros traded for Luis Valbuena in the offseason partly because of his ability to hit for some pop, which he did last year by slugging 16 homers with the Cubs. Two weeks into his Astros career, he's tied for the team lead with three homers after his two-run blast in the third inning of Sunday's 4-3 win over the Angels.
Valbuena, a left-handed hitter, has homered twice to left field in his past three games, on Sunday sending the first pitch he saw from Garrett Richards in the third inning into the Crawford Boxes to score Jose Altuve, who led off the inning with the second of his three hits.