by Jerry Feitelberg

The Houston Astros avoided a sweep as they beat the A’s 11-5 Wednesday night. It was a big win for Houston as they increased their lead in the AL West to two games over the hard-charging Texas Rangers. The Seattle Mariners beat the Rangers to help them out. The Astros travel to Anaheim and Texas for two big series before returning home. The A’s lost for the eightieth time this year and are twenty games under .500 and have just twenty-two games left to play. Aaron Brooks started for Oakland, and he lost his third straight start. He lasted just four-plus innings and saw his record drop to 1-3, and his earned run average is now an astronomical 7.74. Houston starter Collin McHugh won his sixteenth win of the year. The A’s used six pitchers in the game and five worked for Houston.

The Astros drew first blood in the top of the second when left fielder Colby Rasmus deposited an Aaron Brooks fastball into the second deck in right field with no one aboard. For Rasmus, it was his nineteenth homer of the season. 1-0 after two complete.

The Astros scored three runs in the fourth as they touched Brooks for four hits including two singles and two doubles.  They scored three more in the fifth. Brooks was charged with another run in the fifth after Carlos Gomez doubled leading off the inning. A’s manager Bob Melvin saw enough and brought in switch-pitcher Pat Venditte to handle the pitching. Venditte retired Jed Lowrie on a fly ball to right, but Evan Gattis went yard to put Houston ahead  6-0. Venditte walked Colby Rasmus and gave up a double to Marwin Gonzalez to put men on at second and third with one out. Rasmus scored the seventh run on the night on a sacrifice fly. 7-0 in the middle of the fifth.

The A’s answered with four runs of their own in the bottom of the fifth. Billy Butler led off the inning with an opposite-field home run. Marcus Semien followed with a single. Semien advanced y=to second on a ground out and then scored the second run of the game for Oakland on a single by Billy Burns. Josh Reddick broke a 0-for-10 slump with his sixteenth home run of the year to bring the A’s back into the game. A’s trail 7-4 after five,

The Astros made it 8-4 in the sixth. R.J.Alvarez retired the first two hitters, but Astros center fielder hit his third home run since coming to the Astros in July. Oakland got a run back in their half of the sixth. Brett Lawrie reached on an infield single and advanced to second on a wild pitch. Billy Butler singled to drive in Lawrie with the fifth run of the game for the A’s.

The Astros made it a four-run game in the seventh. Fernando Abad struck out the first two hitters he faced. The Astros first baseman, Marwin Gonzalez, batting right-handed, hit a solo homer to left. Fourth home run of the game for Houston. The A’s put two men on in the bottom of the seventh but couldn’t score. Houston leads 9-5 heading into the eighth.

The Astros put another run on the board in the eighth without the benefit of a hit. Dan Otero hit George Springer with a pitch. Springer went to second on a wild pitch and made it to third on a ground out. The A’s brought the infield in to cut off the run at the plate, but Springer was able to beat the strategy. Carlos Correa hit a grounder to Marcus Semien. Semien checked him at third and threw to first for the out. Springer took off, and he beat Canha’s throw home with a head-first slide that enabled him to elude the tag. The Astros were at it again in the ninth. The A’s defense made two errors in the inning and that led to an unearned run. Astros lead 11-5 as the A’s come to bat in the ninth. The A’s went down 1-2-3 to end the game.

Game Notes- The Oakland A’s are now 33-42 at home this season. They have now homered in fifteen consecutive games and are 8-8 against Houston this season. Aaron Brooks is 0-2 with a 9.49 ERA in his last three starts. Billy Burns was 2-for5 and is hitting .348 in his last fifteen games. Billy Butler was 2-for 3 and now has a ten-game hitting streak.

The probable pitchers for the three-game series in Texas are Jesse Chavez against Colby Lewis on Friday. Sean Nolin will face Yovani Gallardo on Saturday, and Felix Doubront pitches Sunday against Cole Hamels.

The A’s announced that that manager Bob Melvin has received a contract extension that will take him through the 2018 season.

The A’s have an off-day Thursday and resume play Friday when they meet the Texas Rangers. They travel to Chicago for four with the White Sox then return to Houston for three more games with the Astros.

Game time was three hours and thirty-eight minutes. There were 13,387 diehard fans in the stands to watch the A’s go down to defeat.