The defending champions of Major League Baseball’s American League Baseball have swept the first game of the division series.

Houston defeated Minnesota 6-4 in Game 1 of the best-of-five American League Division Series at Minute Maid Park in Houston, Texas, on Monday (Aug. 8).

Houston starter Justin Verlander pitched six innings of four-hit ball, striking out six and walking none to earn the win. The 41-year-old earned his 17th win in the postseason. At the plate, Jordan Alvarez hit two home runs, including a two-run shot in the third inning and a solo shot in the seventh.온라인바카라

The Astros got on the board first with a leadoff homer by Jose Altuve in the first inning. They answered with a two-run shot by Alvarez in the third and added two more runs in the fifth to take a 5-0 lead.

In the top of the seventh, Minnesota’s Jorge Polanco hit a three-run homer and Royce Lewis a solo shot to cut the lead to 5-4. But Houston answered in the bottom of the seventh with another Alvarez homer to make it 6-4.

The Astros held on in the eighth and ninth innings to clinch Game 1 of the division series.