MINNEAPOLIS -- Perhaps Astros second baseman Jose Altuve should start staying in a hotel room while the team is in Houston.
The reigning American League batting champion is hitting just .237 at Minute Maid Park this season, but he continues to swing a red-hot bat on the road, going 4-for-5 with two RBIs in Tuesday's 7-2 win over the Twins to raise his road batting average to .439 this year with a .521 on-base percentage.
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"I realize that I'm playing better on the road," said Altuve, who's hitting .320 overall this season. "I don't know why, but I think it's just coincidence. It's not a reason why I'm doing that. I'm just trying to be the same player on the road [and] at home and help my team."
Altuve grounded into a double play in the first inning against Twins starter Jose Berrios, before getting four singles in his next four at-bats. That included a two-run, bases-loaded hit in the fifth that scored Alex Bregman and George Springer and put Houston ahead, 4-2.
"Every ball I hit, I'm expecting to get through," Altuve said.
Altuve has hit safely in all 13 games he's played at Target Field, batting .491 with three-plus hits in five of his last six games in the Twin Cities. In his last seven games away from home, he's batting .500 in 30 at-bats.
"He hits well everywhere," Astros manager A.J. Hinch said. "I know it's pretty extreme this year and maybe a little bit more extreme this year than most. I don't know. I think subconsciously he uses the middle of the field a little bit more. You see a few more base hits to right-center. I'll tell you, at home, I'll take him in an at-bat any time. I don't really need to be talked into that one."
Hitting better on the road is nothing new for Altuve. Last year, he hit a Major League-best .376 on the road with a .439 on-base percentage and .299 at home with a .352 on-base percentage. His .376 average on the road last year was the highest of any hitter away from home since Ichiro Suzuki hit .405 on the road in 2004.