Altuve belts three homers as Astros win opener

JoseAltuve became the first player in club history to homer three times in aplayoff game as Houston clobbered Boston 8-2 in the opening game oftheir American League division series.Most Valuable Player candidateAltuve posted just the 10th three-homer game in Major League Baseballpost-season history as the Astros’ batting lineup overpowered Cy Youngcontender and Red Sox starter Chris Sale Thursday in front of a crowd of43,100 at Minute Maid Park.“I couldn’t believe any of my homers,”Altuve said. “I hit one and I was like, ‘Wow!’ And the second one waslike, ‘Wow, what’s going on here?’ (After the third homer), oh, I don’tknow. I got to wake up.”In the late game, Trevor Bauer pitched 6 2/3scoreless innings and combined with two relievers on a three-hitter asthe Cleveland Indians shut out the New York Yankees 4-0 in game one oftheir AL series. All-star second baseman Altuve hit two of his homers off Sale, finishing with three hits in four at-bats. Hestaked the Astros to a 2-0 lead with a solo homer in the first inningbefore adding a two-out shot off Sale in the fifth and a leadoff homeragainst Red Sox relief pitcher Austin Maddox in the seventh.Houstonseized a 1-0 series lead by hammering four home runs overall whilegetting two-run base hits from Marwin Gonzalez and Brian McCann.Sale, making his first career playoff start, was shaky throughout his five-plus innings.He surrendered nine hits and one walk and was charged with seven earned runs while striking out six.Astrosright-hander Justin Verlander finished with two runs on six hits andtwo walks with three strikeouts in six innings. He recorded his eighthpost-season win.Verlander needed 79 pitches to complete fourinnings, having surrendered a two-out single to Sandy Leon in the secondand a sacrifice fly to Rafael Devers that scored Mookie Betts in thefourth.But Verlander tossed just 20 pitches total in the fifth andsixth, and by the time right-hander Chris Devenski entered in relief inthe seventh the Astros held a commanding five-run lead.Indians blank YankeesIn Cleveland, Bauer did not surrender a hit until the sixth inning when Aaron Hicks doubled with one out.The only other hit against Bauer was a single by Starlin Castro with two outs in the seventh.Jay Bruce had a home run and three RBIs for the Indians.Bauer, who was 17-9 during the regular season, threw 98 pitches, striking out eight with one walk. AndrewMiller followed Bauer to the mound and struck out three of the fivebatters he faced, but the left-hander walked two in the eighth inning. CloserCody Allen relieved Miller and he struck out Aaron Judge to end theinning. Allen retired the side in the ninth to pick up the save. Judge, who blasted 52 home runs during the regular season, struck out four times. Yankeesstarter Sonny Gray pitched just over three innings, giving up threeruns and three hits with two strikeouts and four walks.