LOS ANGELES (AFP) – The Houston Astros belted four home runs to back up a strong outing from starting pitcher Justin Verlander Friday as the World Series champions opened the 2018 playoffs with a 7-2 win over the Cleveland Indians.
Alex Bregman, George Springer and Jose Altuve all homered off Indians starting pitcher Corey Kluber, while Martin Maldonado went deep off reliever Cody Allen as the Astros hit four homers in a post-season game for the seventh time in club history.
They will try to double their lead in the best-of-five American League Division Series when they host game two on Saturday.
In other games Friday, the Boston Red Sox beat New York Yankees, 5-4, in Game 1 of their AL Division Series in Boston while the Milwaukee Brewers beat the Colorado Rockies, 4-0 to take a commanding 2-0 lead in their National League series.
It has been 14 years since the Red Sox and Yankees met in the post-season – and the Red Sox rallied from three games down for a stunning AL Championship Series triumph.
Although the Red Sox convincingly secured their playoff berth with 108 regular-season wins while the Yankees battled through to the division series as a wild card, New York boast wealth of power at the plate and a solid bullpen.
‘‘We don’t see ourselves as an underdog,’’ Yankees relief pitcher Dellin Betances said. ‘‘Obviously for the past two weeks it’s probably the first time we’ve had our team healthy, fully healthy. So it’s fun. We’ve been playing good baseball, and we will try to continue to do so this series.’’
