Before the game started, the national anthem was sung by Clay Walker, while local philantropist and business owner Mattress Mack threw out the ceremonial first pitch.
At Minute Maid Park, Houston opened the score with two runs in the bottom of the first inning off of starter Chris Sale when Alex Bregman and José Altuve hit back-to-back homeruns with one out.
Boston got one run back in the top of the second inning off of Justin Verlander.
With one out, Mitch Moreland and Dustin Pedroia both walked, then Sandy Leon delivered a runscoring single with two outs.
On Leon's single, Pedroia was eliminated at third base to end the inning, while Moreland scored.
Initially, the run was not allowed, but the Red Sox challenged the time play.
The call was overturned and with that, the run did count after all.
In the top of the fourth inning, Boston came alongside.
Mookie Betts led off with a double, moved on a single by Mitch Moreland, then scored on a sacrifice fly by Rafael Devers.
But this also would be the last Boston-run in the game.
| 3 Homeruns, One Game, Postseason |
| Year | Player | Team | Series |
| 1926 | Babe Ruth | Yankees | G4, WS |
| 1928 | Babe Ruth | Yankees | G4, WS |
| 1971 | Bob Robertson | Pirates | G2, NLCS |
| 1977 | Reggie Jackson | Yankees | G6, WS |
| 1978 | George Brett | Royals | G3, ALCS |
| 2002 | Adam Kennedy | Angels | G5, ALCS |
| 2011 | Adrian Beltre | Rangers | G4, ALDS |
| 2011 | Albert Pujols | Cardinals | G3, WS |
| 2012 | Pablo Sandoval | Giants | G1, WS |
| 2017 | José Altuve | Astros | G1, ALDS |
Houston immediately re-took the lead in the bottom of the fourth.
With one out, Evan Gattis doubled and Josh Reddick singled.
The last also was the result of a challenge.
Initially, Reddick was called out on a catch by the centerfielder, but that was overturned and so, he reached on a single.
Moments later, the two runners scored on a 2-out double by Marwin Gonzalez.
From here on, the Astros kept on enlarging the lead.
With two outs in the bottom of the fifth, José Altuve hit his second homerun in the game.
In the sixth, two more runs were added.
Evan Gattis led off with a double and Josh Reddick walked.
Hereafter, Joe Kelly took over the pitching from starter Chris Sale.
After the pitching change, the bases got loaded when Yulieski Gurriel singled.
With one out, Brian McCann delivered a 2-run single to make it a 7-2 score.
In the bottom of the seventh, off of new pitcher Austin Maddox, José Altuve led off wth his third homerun.
And with that, the 27-year old 5'6'' Venezuelan second baseman wrote history for the Astros, becoming the first-ever player of the team to have a 3-homerun game in the postseason.
Justin Verlander became the winning pitcher, giving up six hits in six innings.
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Houston opens American League Division Series with big win against Boston
HOUSTON, Texas (USA) -
Houston Astros opened the best-of-five American League Division Series on Thursday (October 5) with a convincing 8-2 score against Boston Red Sox.
The teams will play Game 2 on Friday.
The hero of the game was José Altuve, who hit three homeruns for the Astros.
With that, he became only the ninth different player in history to hit three homeruns in a postseason-game.
However, the feat was accomplished ten times, as legendary Babe Ruth did it twice.
The last player to do so was Pablo Sandoval, who hit three homeruns while playing for San Francisco Giants in Game 1 of the 2012 World Series.
Altuve became only the second player to hit three homeruns in a Division Series-game.