Altuve on historic HR heater for 1st-place Astros

ARLINGTON — The legend of Jose Altuve grew even larger Tuesday night at Globe Life Field when the Astros’ second baseman blasted three home runs in three innings in a 14-1 blowout of the Rangers for his first career three-homer game in the regular season.

Altuve, who hit two homers in Monday’s win over Texas, led off the game with a Statcast-projected 406-foot homer off Rangers starter Nathan Eovaldi to left. He hit a solo homer off Eovaldi in the second that traveled 398 feet to left field. And he followed a two-run homer by catcher Martín Maldonado with a 426-foot homer to center off reliever Dane Dunning in the third.

Altuve’s quest for history — no second baseman has ever hit four homers in a game — was denied. He grounded out in the fifth and struck out in the seventh before he was removed from the game. Maldonado homered again in the seventh, and Yordan Alvarez homered three batters later to give Houston 11 homers in their past two games in Arlington.

By homering in his first three at-bats Tuesday, Altuve had five homers in his last six at-bats.

It’s been a remarkable season for Altuve, who missed the first 43 games of the season with a fractured right thumb and 17 games later in the season with an oblique injury. He hit for the cycle Aug. 28 in Boston and became the third Astros player in history to reach 2,000 hits on Aug. 19.