By Morris Phillips

If momentum is today’s starting pitcher than Kendall Graveman provided plenty for the A’s on Saturday.

Graveman stymied the Astros for eight innings, and the A’s held on for a 3-2 win over the Astros in Houston. The pitcher’s trademark sinker kept the defense behind him alert and productive, and the opponent off the scoreboard save for a couple of ninth inning runs after Graveman departed.

“He was outstanding,” Stephen Vogt said of Graveman. “With the exception of maybe three pitches, he was in the bottom part of the zone.”

On Friday, the A’s scored five times in the ninth inning to put themselves in line for an improbable, come-from-behind victory, only to see Luis Valbuena’s three-run homer win it for the Astros in the bottom of the inning. The 10-9 loss ranks at the team’s worst of the year, and Graveman and the A’s had to be back on the diamond to face the hottest team in baseball just 16 hours later.

Since May 12, the Astros had won 30 of 42 games, and their starter for Saturday’s third game of the four-game series, Lance McCullers, had never allowed more than three earned runs in any of his 16 starts at Minute Maid Park. Despite all that momentum, and Valbuena’s game-winning home run on Friday, Graveman made himself the story on Saturday.

The A’s starter retired the first 14 batters he faced, and shutout the Astros for the first eight frames on just three hits. Graveman featured his sinker throughout, and the A’s defense behind him was flawless, going a franchise record 15^th consecutive game without committing an error, and turning a big double play to end the seventh inning.

“We’ve seen once he gets on a roll, his confidence elevates. So this was a nice little stretch here leading up to the break that he can feel good about,” manager Bob Melvin said.

Melvin offered Graveman an opportunity to pitch a complete game for the first time in his career, and to become the first A’s starter to go the distance this season. But after allowing three hits through eight, Graveman allowed back-to-back singles to Jake Marisnick and Marwin Gonzales opening the ninth, and Melvin summoned Ryan Dull to finish what Graveman started.

Despite the ninth inning hiccup, Graveman registered his fifth start in his last six in which he’s allowed two runs or less. After opening the season with a 5.36 ERA through nine starts, Graveman is 4-0 with 3.40 ERA over the following eight starts.

Dull nearly induced a double play ground ball off the bat of Jose Altuve, but the speedy baserunner beat the turn, allowing Marisnick to score from the third. Two batters later, Valbuena was at it again with an RBI single that made it 3-2. But Dull recovered, striking out Carlos Gomez to end the game.

Altuve’s fielder’s choice ended Dull’s incredible streak of stranding 36 consecutive inherited baserunners, a record for relievers as far back as the record keepers can measure, but the final result was Dull’s first ever save, quite a feat on the heels of Friday’s bullpen meltdown.

Stephen Vogt homered, doubled, and came up with an RBI single in the third to make it 3-0. That, along with some contributions from Coco Crisp (back from a one-game suspension) and Josh Reddick were all the offense the A’s needed.

In Sunday’s first half finale, Sean Manaea will start for the A’s in a matchup with Houston’s Dallas Kuechel, who has won four straight decisions.