Yordan Alvarez and Martin Maldonado each had two-run singles and the Houston Astros roughed up Max Scherzer in an 8-5 victory on Wednesday to cut their deficit in the AL Championship Series to 2-1.

Jose Altuve homered and Maurico Dubon added three hits for Houston, which rebounded on the road after losing the first two games at home.

The defending World Series champion Astros will try to even the best-of-seven series in Game 4 on Thursday.

Josh Jung hit a pair of two-run homers, but Texas suffered its first postseason loss in eight games.

Scherzer, making his first start in more than a month, lasted only four innings after allowing five runs and five hits with one walk and four strikeouts.

Cristian Javier was far more effective, yielding two runs and three hits in 5 2/3 innings.

He extended his postseason scoreless streak to 20 1/3 innings before it ended in the fifth on Jung’s first home run.

Hector Neris surrendered Jung’s second home run before Bryan Abreu gave up a run in the eighth on Adolis Garcia’s RBI single.

Ryan Pressly pitched the ninth and got Jung to hit into a game-ending double play for his third save this postseason.

The Texas Rangers scored four first-inning runs before holding on for their seventh straight win to start this year's post-season, a 5-4 victory over the Houston Astros on Monday that gave them a 2-0 lead in the American League Championship Series.

Texas withstood two more home runs from Houston slugger Yordan Alvarez to move to 7-0 in these playoffs, one shy of a Major League record for the longest winning streak to begin a post-season set by the Kansas City Royals in 2014. Six of those victories have come on the road.

The Rangers can put the reigning World Series champion Astros within a game of elimination when they return home for Wednesday's Game 3 of this best-of-seven series. Texas will start Max Scherzer in the three-time Cy Young Award winner's first appearance since straining his shoulder in mid-September.

Scherzer will try to build off Monday's solid performance from teammate Nathan Eovaldi, who struck out nine while allowing three runs over six innings and worked his way out of a bases-loaded, no-out jam in the fifth.

The Rangers gave Eovaldi a big early lead as their first five hitters reached base off Houston's Framber Valdez.

Marcus Semien and Corey Seager began the game with singles before Valdez threw wildly to first on a chopper to the mound off the bat of Robbie Grossman, allowing Semien to score the game's first run. Adolis Garcia and Mitch Garver followed with RBI singles and Nathaniel Lowe later plated Garcia with a base hit to push Texas' lead to 4-0.

The Astros got a run back in the second on Alvarez's first homer of the game, but Jonah Heim countered with a solo shot of his own in the third to restore the Rangers' four-run advantage.

Houston pulled within 5-2 on Alex Bregman's home run off the left-field foul pole in the fourth, then loaded the bases with no out in the fifth on two singles and an error. Eovaldi got through unscathed, however, by striking out Yainer Diaz and Jose Altuve and getting Bregman to ground out. 

Alvarez walked and scored on Michael Brantley's double in the sixth to cut Houston's deficit to two, then connected off Aroldis Chapman with two outs in the eighth for his sixth homer of the post-season as Texas' lead dwindled to 5-4.

Jose Leclerc then relieved Chapman and walked Jose Abreu and Brantley, but prevented further damage before retiring the Astros in order in the ninth for his second save of the series.

Valdez struck out six in just 2 2/3 innings, but permitted seven hits and all five Texas runs - four of which were earned. 

Houston, which won six of seven road meetings with the Rangers during the regular season, is scheduled to start Cristian Javier in Game 3. 

The Houston Astros will be without one of baseball's best hitters for the foreseeable future after placing slugger Yordan Alvarez on the 10-day injured list with right oblique discomfort.

The Astros announced the move on Friday and said Alvarez will head back to Houston for further evaluation.

A timetable for a return won't be made until after he's evaluated, though Astros second baseman Jose Altuve suffered a mild oblique injury while swinging a bat on June 2 and ended up missing only four games.

It's possible Houston believes Alvarez's injury is more serious, however, seeing as the team already placed him on the injured list. The recovery time for oblique strains is typically four-to-six weeks.

Alvarez exited Thursday's 3-2 loss to the Toronto Blue Jays after experiencing discomfort in his right oblique during his at-bat in the first inning.

He said he initially felt soreness in the oblique on his final swing in the batting cage before the game.

Alvarez ended up grounding out on his first-inning at-bat, ending a 19-game on-base streak in which he slashed .246/.383/.646 with eight home runs, 16 RBIs and 18 runs.

Alvarez leads the majors with 55 RBIs and his 17 home runs trail only New York Yankees right fielder Aaron Judge's 19 for the most in the AL.

Since the start of the 2021 season, Alvarez's 87 home runs are seventh in MLB.

The 25-year-old won the AL Rookie of the Year in 2019 and made his first All-Star Game last season after hitting 37 home runs - the most ever by a left-handed hitter in Houston franchise history.

Thursday's setback was the third straight loss for the Astros, dropping them to 36-27 - five games behind the first-place Texas Rangers in the AL West.