Bregman homers, Astros win again

Houston goes up 2-0 on Cleveland

HOUSTON — Justin Verlander and Gerrit Cole have been even greater in the playoffs, keeping Cleveland’s powerful offense in check to give the Houston Astros a 2-0 lead with a 3-1 victory in the AL Division Series on Saturday.

Albuquerque native Alex Bregman homered for the second consecutive game, thus becoming the youngest player in major league history (at 24 years, 190 days) with six postseason homers.

Cole struck out 12 and walked none, combining with two relievers on Houston’s second straight three-hitter in a 3-1 victory

Saturday.

“There’s no doubt we expect to be good, but this is a team effort,” Cole said. “So, we expect to keep our team in the ballgame. I don’t know about all the personal accolades or all the dominance or that kind of stuff, but we just want to put up a fight.”

Marwin Gonzalez hit a goahead, two-run double.

Next up: 2015 AL Cy Young winner Dallas Keuchel will oppose Mike Clevinger in Game 3 of this best-offive series on Monday in Cleveland.

Francisco Lindor hit a third-inning homer for the AL Central champion Indians, who have three runs in

the two games. Cleveland is batting .100 following a regular season in which the Indians ranked second in the majors with a .259 average. Jose Ramirez, Edwin Encarnacion and Josh Donaldson have combined to go 1 for 22.

“This is one of the best offenses in the league,” manager AJ Hinch said. “They can do damage. They can put long at-bats together. (Cole) used all his pitches. He was creative. What else can I say? He was awesome.”

Gonzalez put the Astros ahead in the sixth with the third of his four hits, an opposite-field double to right off usually reliable reliever Andrew Miller.

Bregman homered against Trevor Bauer in the seventh, and the World Series champions moved within a win of a second straight trip to the AL Championship Series.

DAVID J. PHILLIP/ASSOCIATED PRESS Alex Bregman (2) celebrates with teammate Carlos Correa after hitting a home run on Saturday for the victorious Astros.

DAVID J. PHILLIP/ASSOCIATED PRESS Albuquerque native Alex Bregman watches his solo home run against Cleveland’s Trevor Bauer in the seventh inning. It was the second homer in as many games for Bregman, who also walked and scored another run on Saturday.