perfect timing

If you could pick a date for your first career major league home run, the Fourth of July might be the perfect choice. Good job, Grae Kessinger. With the home crowd of 39,533 at Houston’s Minute Maid Park in a celebratory mood from the start, former Ole Miss standout Kessinger launched a 397-foot bomb to give the Astros a 1-0 lead in the third inning of a game they’d go on to win 4-1 against Colorado. Kessinger told mlb.com that he jumped on a hanging curveball from Kyle Freeland for the memorable blast: “I got a barrel on it, was able to elevate it and got to enjoy it.” Kessinger, called up by the Astros on June 5, had gotten just 10 at-bats and one hit prior to Tuesday’s game, when he went 2-for-4. He started at shortstop, his first start since June 17. (The world champion Astros’ lineup is tough to crack.) Kessinger hit six homers in 52 games this season at Triple-A Sugar Land and has 33 in his minor league career. He hit 17 in three years at Ole Miss. Grandfather Don, a six-time All-Star shortstop who played 16 years in the majors, hit 14 homers all told. Uncle Keith, another UM product, hit one homer in his 11 games with St. Louis in 1993. P.S. Hunter Renfroe, the ex-Mississippi State slugger from Crystal Springs, hit a significant homer on Tuesday. Career bomb No. 172 moved him past Dmitri Young and into sole possession of seventh place on the all-time list of homers by Mississippi natives in the majors. Renfroe has 15 homers this season for the troubled Los Angeles Angels, who lost again on Tuesday, their seventh L in 10 games. … East Central Community College alum Tim Anderson smacked his first triple of 2023 on Tuesday, his first extra-base hit since June 9. The former All-Star still doesn’t have a home run in 251 ABs and is batting .235 for the troubled Chicago White Sox, who lost Tuesday and are 13 games under .500.