Houston gets back-to-back wins

10 years after his debut, Altuve leads Astros over Indians to secure series

Now a veteran of 10 years, Jose Altuve continues to provide the Astros a ton of upside. Photo by Jason Miller/Getty Images.

After grabbing the opener on Monday, the Astros continued the series against the Indians on Tuesday seeking to secure the series with another victory. Thanks to a strong offensive performance, including leadoff man Jose Altuve blasting a couple of homers, they would grab a blowout victory.

Final Score: Astros 9, Indians 3

Astros' Record: 58-38, first in the AL West

Winning Pitcher: Luis Garcia (7-5)

Losing Pitcher: Triston McKenzie (1-4)

Altuve sparks the offense

Possibly the biggest storyline of this game was that it was the 10-year anniversary of Jose Altuve's major-league debut. He kept the spotlight once play started, putting Houston on the board in the bottom of the first with a leadoff solo home run. He did it again to lead off the bottom of the third, doubling the Astros lead to 2-0.

Other parts of Houston's lineup would get in on the action in the bottom of the fifth, with two reaching base to set up a two-RBI single by Yordan Alvarez to make it 4-0. He, too, would later come around to score as Kyle Tucker would crush a 435-foot two-run bomb to extend the lead to 6-0 heading to the sixth. They didn't stop there, getting more runners on base to set up Michael Brantley for a two-RBI single to make it a six-run inning and 8-0 lead.

Garcia goes six shutout innings

Meanwhile, on the mound for the Astros, their starter had a great start. Luis Garcia cruised through his outing, allowing just three baserunners, all on singles which he would erase, making it through six effective, scoreless innings to maintain the lead given to him. His final line: 6.0 IP, 3 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 8 K, 79 P.

Astros secure the series

After Kyle Tucker notched his third RBI of the night on a two-out single to make it 9-0 in the bottom of the sixth, Houston dipped into their bullpen in the top of the seventh to bring in Bryan Abreu. He worked around a two-out walk and single, erasing both to keep Cleveland off the board. Joe Smith was next, but he would have a rough inning as he allowed three runs on four-straight hits before getting through the frame.

Blake Taylor took over in the top of the ninth to try and close things out. He put a couple on base but worked around it to end the blowout win for Houston, who secures the series and gives them a chance to complete the series and season-series sweep on Wednesday.

Up Next: The third and final game of this series and the last game of the seven-game season series will get started at 7:10 PM Central on Wednesday. Lance McCullers Jr. (7-2, 2.80 ERA) will look to continue his impressive year for Houston, while Cleveland will hand the ball to Eli Morgan (1-3, 7.86 ERA).

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The Houston Astros have been on a tear over this recent stretch of games, but they haven't gained any ground on the Rangers who continue to put up runs at a historic pace.

Houston's pitching is elite again this year, but the offense is just mediocre at this point in the season. The Rangers and Rays are getting things done with elite offense and pitching, which has them leading the best two divisions in baseball.

So will the Rangers and Rays fall back to the pack like the Yankees did last year, or will the Astros have to step their game up to win the AL pennant once again?

Editor's note: This video was recorded before Jacob deGrom's surgery was announced.

Plus, which team is the biggest threat to the Astros? The Rays or the Rangers?

Be sure to watch the video above as we break it all down.

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