Houston Astros designated hitter Yordan Alvarez is dealing with an illness during the American League Championship Series against the Texas Rangers.

It didn't stop Alvarez from batting fourth as the designated hitter Monday for Game 2 of the best-of-seven series -- and smacking two solo home runs, his fifth and sixth homers of the playoffs.

Despite Alvarez's best attempt to mimic Michael Jordan's "flu game" heroics, the Astros fell to the Rangers 5-4 and are down 2-0 in the series.

Alvarez struggled mightily in Houston's 2-0 home loss on Sunday by going 0-for-4 with three strikeouts. But amid reports Alvarez was dealing with a virus, Houston manager Dusty Baker downplayed the situation.

"He's fine," Baker said at his pregame news conference Monday. "He's better today than he was yesterday."

Baker said players -- as well as regular people -- often perform their job duties when they are less than 100 percent.

"Like I was telling somebody yesterday, as a responsible man, a family man, you go to work, you know?" the 74-year-old Baker said. "And I never saw my dad in the bed ever sick, and I'm sure he was sick. And sometimes as a man you just go to work."

Alvarez, 26, batted .293 with 31 homers and 97 RBIs in 114 regular-season games while making the AL All-Star team for the second time. It was his third straight 30-plus-homer season.

Alvarez starred in the AL Division Series against the Minnesota Twins, belting four homers in four games and batting .438 with six RBIs in 16 at-bats.

--Field Level Media