ARLINGTON -- Jose Altuve's road heroics continued on Friday night when he launched a two-run homer off Matt Bush in the seventh inning at Globe Life Park, padding his already eye-popping statistics for games played away from home.
Altuve was 2-for-4 in the Astros' 7-3 win over the Rangers, improving his road batting average to .415 this season. He has 56 hits in 135 at-bats away from home, the best in the Majors.
Altuve has reached base safely in five of his eight plate appearances in the first two games of the current series, and he also has hits in each of his past eight road games, batting .571 (20-for-35). He has recorded multiple hits in eight of those games, including Friday.
His hits are not just historic -- they're also well-timed. The two-run homer on Friday put the Astros ahead by four runs, creating welcomed space as Houston's bullpen finished up another solid outing by starter Justin Verlander.
Altuve's homer, which traveled a projected 394 feet to right field with an exit velocity of 101 mph, according to Statcast™, followed a solo shot by Alex Bregman, who launched a 420-foot shot to straightaway center in the fifth.
"Oppo for Jose -- those are big hits," manager AJ Hinch said. "Those are big areas of the ballpark. To get separation after [the Rangers] cut the lead ... it's still certainly a game. And Alex with a tack-on one -- that's why they're in the middle of the order."