Houston Astros pitcher Collin McHugh, left, watches as Oakland Athletics’ Jed Lowrie returns to the dugout after McHugh caught Khris Davis’ line drive and threw to first outing Lowrie for an unassisted double play in the fourth inning of a baseball game Saturday, Aug. 29, 2017, in Houston. (AP Photo/Richard Carson)

By Jeremiah K Salmonson

Despite a strong effort from A’s starting pitcher Kendall Graveman in the second game of a three game series, the A’s fell to the AL West leading Astros in a shutout 3-0. Graveman, who since the All-Star break was 1-1 with a 7.53, turned in a nice effort in the loss. He threw six innings of two run ball (earned runs) while working in and out of trouble most innings.

Astros starting pitcher Colin McHugh was not without stressful innings himself. McHugh gave up six hits and a walk in his six innings of work; However, the difference was the defensive prowess for Houston. In the end the Astros would end up turning a dazzling six double plays. Each double play could not have come at a better time for the Astros starter as he did not allow a run to the A’s. The bullpen for the Astros came in and shut the door on the A’s without giving up a run. Francisco Liriano, Joe Musgrove, and Tyler Clippard threw scoreless innings in the 7th-9th respectively. The A’s bullpen came in and did a nice job only giving up a home run to Alex Bregman. Daniel Coulombe got an out and Ryan Dull threw the final 1 2/3rds innings.

The offense consisted of a two-run single from MarwinGonzales in the bottom of the 4th. Alex Bregman also homered for Houston in the 8th against Ryan Dull the only blemish for the A’s bullpen. The A’s were able to scratch six hits against McHugh with Marcus Semien notably going 2-4 raising his average to .254. The other four hits belonged to Lowrie (1), Healy (1), Olson (1), Powell (1).

The Astros solidified a winning series against the A’s with the final game of the series on Sunday. The starters on tap for Sunday are Brad Peacock (10-1 3.30 ERA) for the Astros and Jharel Cotton (5-10 5.83 ERA) for the A’s. For Saturdays game Colin McHugh (Astros) improves to 1-2 with a 4.01 ERA and Kendall Graveman (A’s) falls to 3-4 with a 4.54 ERA.