BOSTON — Alex Bregman and Yordan Alvarez hit back-to-back homer runs in the first inning and the Houston Astros continued their late-August surge with a 6-2 win over the Red Sox on Tuesday night.

Mauricio Dubón added a two-run double in the sixth for the Astros, who kept pace in a tight race for the AL West after entering the night one game behind division-leading Seattle.

The Astros opened a 3 1/2-game lead over Toronto for the final AL wild-card spot.

Since dropping three straight last week, including a pair of losses to the Red Sox in Houston, the defending World Series champion Astros have slugged their way to four straight wins, scoring 45 runs during the streak.

J.P. France (10-5) pitched 5 2/3 innings, holding Boston to two runs on five hits with one walk and three strikeouts.

Adam Duvall homered for Boston, which has lost 4 of 5 and fell one step closer to being knocked out of playoff contention with 29 games remaining.

Brayan Bello (10-8) pitched 4 2/3 innings, allowing three runs — two of them earned — on four hits with two walks and two strikeouts. He got stuck with an unearned run in the fifth after a fielding error by Rafael Devers at third base helped set up Bregman’s RBI single that pushed Houston’s lead to 3-1.

Bello steadied himself after a rough start in the first, when after striking out Jose Altuve, Bregman and Alvarez hit back-to-back homers that put the Astros up 2-0.

Bregman drove a 2-1 sinker from Bello out to left-center for his 22nd homer and had barely made it back to the dugout before Alvarez hit a line drive just inside Pesky’s Pole in right for his 23rd.

NOTES: The Astros reinstated OF Michael Brantley from the 60-day injured list and started him in left field. Brantley, a five-time All-Star, hadn’t played in a game since June 2022 and had been recovering from surgery on his right shoulder. Brantley batted sixth and went 0 for 4. …  The Red Sox announced OF Jarren Duran will miss the remainder of the season following surgery for a toe injury. Manager Alex Cora said he expects Duran to be ready for spring training.

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