Red-hot Altuve says 5-game HR streak is accidental

Jose Altuve simply can't be stopped right now.

The Houston Astros second baseman continued his red-hot week by smashing another home run Saturday in Seattle, this one coming off Felix Hernandez. It marked the fifth straight game in which Altuve has homered, and his sixth round-tripper over that stretch.

But before extending his streak Saturday, Altuve let everyone in on a little secret about his recent success: it's all an accident.

"I stand by my words when I say that when I go to home plate, I'm not trying to hit homers," Altuve told Chandler Rome of the Houston Chronicle before Saturday's game. "I'm just trying to put the ball in play, make good contact ... even though I'm hitting homers, I'm not going to try to change my approach."

"I'm not this power hitter that we're all seeing right now, but I'll take it," he added following Saturday's 3-1 win, according to Rome. "If I keep hitting homers to help my team, I'll be happy."

Manager A.J. Hinch concurred with his diminutive star's theory and noted that Altuve's power surge is coming from him simply not pressing at the plate.

"I think he hits home runs by accident," Hinch said. "I don't think he necessarily tries to hit the ball far, he tries to hit it hard.

"If he just focuses on hitting the ball hard, it goes pretty far. The more he tries to launch, the more he tries to lift the ball, the more trouble he gets into. These stretches where he's hitting the ball all over the ballpark, he's hitting the ball hard for the most part every at-bat, the success comes with it."

Accident or not, Altuve's streak is quickly verging into record territory. If he homers in a sixth straight game Sunday, he'll tie Morgan Ensberg (2006) for the Astros' franchise record, according to MLB Stats.

The MLB record for consecutive games with a homer is eight, shared by Ken Griffey Jr., Don Mattingly, and Dale Long.