Astros Beat Rangers 4-1 Behind Altuve, Alvarez Home Runs

Yordan Alvarez and Jose Altuve hit back-to-back first-inning home runs as the Houston Astros defeated the Texas Rangers 4-1 on Saturday night in Houston, handing Jacob deGrom his second consecutive loss without reaching his 100th career win. The Astros matched a season high with four home runs and strengthened their position in the three-game series, with the finale set for Sunday.

Altuve opened the game by sending deGrom’s third pitch into the Crawford Boxes for his 42nd career leadoff homer. Two batters later, Alvarez added to the advantage, launching a home run off deGrom to push Houston’s lead to 2-0. The Rangers then faced additional damage in the middle innings as Christian Walker led off the third with his 11th homer and Zach Cole followed with a two-out drive to make it 4-0.

DeGrom, who entered the game with 99 career wins, allowed four home runs for just the second time in 257 career starts. Houston’s power surge limited him to a six-inning outing in which he finished with four strikeouts. After the Cole homer, he retired the final seven batters he faced and surrendered four runs on five hits overall.

Houston starter KaiWei Teng held Texas scoreless through five innings,...