Houston Astros slugger Yainer Diaz deserves better. Diaz has spent four seasons with the Astros. A national broadcast ought to know his name by now. Instead, Roku struggled mightily, calling Yainer...Yandy Diaz. Yes, the broadcasters mistook Yainer, who has played nearly 300 MLB games over the course of four seasons, for Tampa Bay Rays infielder Yandy Diaz. Mistakes happen on national broadcasts, but rarely are they corrected with such authority. Yainer made sure of that on Sunday.
Yainer Diaz broke up the no-hit bid of Jack Leiter on a pitch that was nowhere near the zone. Leiter had a no-hitter through nearly seven innings pitched, but they don't hand out awards for that sort of thing. Diaz took a pitch up and outside to the bleachers.
Again, that is Yainer Diaz, not Yandy. There's a very important difference. They play for different teams, and Yainer deserves his props.
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Astros Yanier Diaz stops history from hurting the Astros
Again, the Astros may not win this game, but it does wonders for a clubhouse when a player breaks up a no-hitter. Losing games is natural over the course of a 162-game season. Getting zero hits in even one game is depressing, and raises questions about the effectiveness of the lineup. Diaz (Yainer, not Yandy) made sure Houston's postgame media scrum didn't involve questions about Leiter completely shutting them down.
Diaz was stuck behind Martin Maldonado for far too long. Now that he has the spotlight, he has separated himself from Maldonado. Diaz hits well over the Mendoza line, which his predecessor has not. Prior to the 2025 season, FanGraphs projected Diaz to have a breakout season. They weren't completely right, but there's a reason Houston trusted Diaz more than Maldonado.
"Diaz burst onto the big league scene in 2023 with the kind of approach that makes hitting instructors wince, then shrug their shoulders and nod. He swung early and often, took big hacks, and generally acted like he was allergic to taking walks or hitting singles. It worked," Ben Clemons wrote back in February.
Diaz breaking up a no-hit bid doesn't prove the Astros right, but it does reflect that scouting report. Diaz is more willing to expand the zone than Maldonado. Sure, that may lead to more strikeouts, but the Astros also don't have a black hole in the lineup.
Consider that a win, though the Astros cannot.