Altuve’s three homers lift Astros over Boston

HOUSTON — Jose Altuve had just arrived in the Houston Astros’ dugout after launching his third home run of the game when George Springer grabbed his right biceps and examined it, as if searching for an explanation for his teammate’s extraordinary pop.

“He makes sure he stays on top of his gym routine, whatever it is,” Springer said. “The dude is just a joke.”

The major league batting champion put on an unprecedented show of power Thursday as Houston roughed up Chris Sale and the Boston Red Sox 8-2 in Game 1 of their American League Division Series.

Buoyed by chants of “MVP” in each trip to the plate, the 5-foot-6 Altuve hit solo homers in the first and fifth innings off Sale. He connected again in the seventh off reliever Austin Maddox to give Houston a quick boost in the best-of-five series.

“As soon as I cross the white line, I feel the same size as everyone else,” Altuve said.

Justin Verlander pitched six effective innings and improved to 6-0 since Houston got him in a late-season trade with Detroit. He is 5-0 with a 2.24 ERA in nine career starts in division series.

Sale, the major league strikeout leader this season, was tagged for seven runs in five-plus innings of his postseason debut.

› Indians 4, Yankees 0 CLEVELAND — Trevor Bauer chopped slugger Aaron Judge and New York’s other big bats down to size, and Jay Bruce drove in three runs as Cleveland began another pursuit of its first World Series title in 69 years by winning the opener in their ALDS.

Bauer struck out Judge three times, twice getting the MVP candidate looking. He allowed just two hits in 6 2/3 innings before manager Terry Francona turned to baseball’s best bullpen.