Houston Astros vs Oakland Athletics Match Player Stats On Oct 06, 2020

LOS ANGELES -- George Springer put on another postseason show at Dodger Stadium on Tuesday, moving the Houston Astros one game away from their fourth consecutive American League Championship Series.

Springer hit two home runs and the Houston Astros crushed their way to a 5-2 victory over the Oakland A's in a neutral-site game at the home of the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Martin Maldonado also hit a home run as the Astros went deep three times, one day after hitting another three homers in Game 1 of the AL Division Series. Houston will look to sweep the best-of-three series on Wednesday.

"Obviously it's big for us, but that's an outstanding team over there," Springer said. "It's about inning by inning, pitch by pitch. We understand what the A's can do offensively, and on the mound, so we'll see what happens."

Astros starter Framber Valdez (2-0) gave up two runs on five hits over seven innings. He walked one and struck out four.

Khris Davis and Chad Pinder hit home runs for the A's, who now need to win three consecutive games in order to advance to the ALCS, which starts Sunday at San Diego.

"His performance was great," Astros manager Dusty Baker said about Valdez. "He only made one mistake. He hung a curveball to Khris Davis, that was it. The rest of the curveballs were down low and he back-doored them, front-doored them, and then he'll throw a fastball by you."

The Astros and A's have combined for 11 home runs in two games of the series. By comparison, the Dodgers and Milwaukee Brewers played two National League wild-card games in the same venue last week and combined for two homers.

Springer's two-homer day followed a multi-homer performance from teammate Carlos Correa on Monday. Springer has six hits in the series, and coupled with his show-stopping performance in the 2017 World Series, he is 13-for-26 (.500) with five home runs and nine RBIs in six career playoff games at Dodger Stadium.

Springer also extended his Astros postseason-homer record to 17.

"Honestly, it's about enjoying the moment," Springer said about his playoff success. "It's understanding that you may never get back to being here ever again. There are guys that go their whole careers without ever stepping foot in the playoffs, so it's being fortunate to be here. It's an honor."

Davis put the A's on top 1-0 in the second inning with his second home run of the series, but Springer topped that with a two-run shot into left-center in the third. Springer's blast came two batters after a Josh Reddick single.

The A's have taken the early lead in each of the first two games of the series but have failed to sustain offensive momentum.

"It changed the energy when we put them on their heels and then they put us on our heels," Pinder said. "We really knew going into this (that) this would be a dogfight. This is (an Astros) team with experience in the postseason. They have great talent and they're not going to just roll over. We have to find a way to pull ourselves out of this."

In the fourth inning, the Astros took a 3-1 lead on a one-out ground ball from Correa that the A's were unable to turn into an inning-ending double play because Houston's Kyle Tucker was breaking from first base on the pitch.

The A's pulled to within a run in the fourth inning when Pinder hit a blast into the empty stands in right-center.

The Astros moved ahead 4-2 in the fifth on Maldonado's home run that knocked Oakland starter Sean Manaea from the game. On the first pitch from A's reliever Yusmeiro Petit, Springer hit one over the wall in left.

Manaea (0-1) gave up four runs on five hits over 4 1/3 innings with one walk and two strikeouts.

"Our backs are against the wall and we have to come out fighting (Wednesday)," Manaea said. "I think we're ready for that."

Houston's bullpen followed five hitless innings in Game 1 with two scoreless innings in Game 2. Right-hander Ryan Pressley finished off Oakland in the ninth inning for his second save of the postseason.

--By Doug Padilla, Field Level Media