Astros hit 4 homers, with a pair by Abreu, to rout Twins 9-1 and take 2-1 ALDS lead

MINNEAPOLIS — Jose Abreu hit a three-run homer for Houston in a four-run first inning against Sonny Gray and piled on with a two-run shot in the ninth, powering the Astros past the Minnesota Twins 9-1 on Tuesday for a 2-1 lead in their AL Division Series.

Yordan Alvarez hit his fourth home run in three games and Alex Bregman had a homer and an RBI single for the defending World Series champions, who took charge from their first at-bat and moved within one win of a seventh consecutive AL Championship Series appearance. Astros starter Cristian Javier took it from there with nine strikeouts in five scoreless innings.

“This was one of the reasons why I signed with this organization, to be in the best situation and compete, said Abreu, who hit a career-low .237 in his Astros debut season, nearly 50 points below his career mark.

Game 4 is at Target Field on Wednesday. If the Twins force Game 5, it would be in Houston on Friday.

“We were fighting an uphill battle as a team. I was fighting an uphill battle every inning,” Gray said.

Javier has been uneven at best this year, with a 4.56 ERA that was by far his worst in four major league seasons. He failed to finish five innings in five of his prior 11 starts.

Manager Dusty Baker expressed confidence in the 26-year-old since the series began, a belief he connected to his extended experience of seeing Javier at his best.

The right-hander, who threw six hitless innings in World Series Game 4 last year to beat Philadelphia, lowered his career postseason ERA to 1.91 over 37 2/3 innings.

With 13 misses in 16 swings at Javier’s slider, the Twins flailed through the late afternoon shadows in a feeble response to the early explosion by the Astros. Javier allowed only one hit, a one-out double by Max Kepler in the first that put two runners in scoring position. Javier responded with consecutive strikeouts of Royce Lewis and Carlos Correa.

With five walks and one hit batter, Javier provided the Twins plenty of opportunities to catch up. They loaded the bases on walks in the fifth inning, but Kepler and Lewis ended the inning with strikeouts.

The Twins left nine men on base and went 1 for 9 with runners in scoring position. Correa, who has a hit in all five postseason games and is 9 for 19 with four RBIs, scored on Willi Castro’s one-out single in the sixth. But Jeremy Peña made a diving stop at shortstop of a grounder rocketed by Ryan Jeffers and leaped to his feet to start a double play.

“It was a difficult day to hit, so them jumping out early was very, very important,” Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said. “Whichever team did that was going to definitely be in the driver’s seat.”

Fast start

Jose Altuve greeted Gray with a single, and a one-out bouncer down the first-base line eluded Alex Kirilloff’s glove for a two-base error. Kyle Tucker put the Astros on the board with a single. Then Abreu smashed a 2-1 sweeper into the second deck for a 4-0 lead that took some buzz out of the ballpark.

“Their guy did what I didn’t do. He executed pitches in spots with runners on,” Gray said.

The Twins were blown away by the energy boost from their crowd during the Wild Card Series clincher last week against Toronto. Splitting the first two games in Houston gave the Twins home-field advantage, and they sold out both games three days in advance. Johan Santana threw out the ceremonial first pitch to Joe Mauer after taking off his jacket to reveal a Pablo López jersey after López, who grew up idolizing his fellow Venezuelan, brought the ball to the mound.