The Oakland A’s Ramon Laureano gets an RBI single to send the A’s home in the bottom of the ninth knocking in the winning run against the Houston Astros on Wednesday night at the Oakland Coliseum (AP News photo)

Houston 2 4 0

Oakland 3 5 0

Wed September 9, 2020

By Lewis Rubman

OAKLAND–During the Dodgers last three seasons in Brooklyn, they had a young left handed pitcher who hadn’t played even one inning of professional baseball before signing with, and playing for, the big team.

They had to keep him a year; those were the days of the bonus baby rule, under which a signing bonus of over $4,000 came with the additional cost of a year-long place on the 25 man roster. The kid was fast and wild, but raw.

He excited fans whenever he pitched, especially contests like the Mayor’s Trophy game against the Yankees. He ended up in the Hall of Fame. You’ve guessed it; he was Sandy Koufax.

Jesús Lozano generates that kind of excitement. Of course, he comes with some minor league experience, and his has more command and control than the adolescent southpaw from Lafayette HS and Nathan’s Hot Dog amateur team.

And no one of Lozano’s age (he’ll be 23 this month) has a lock on a plaque at Cooperstown, but, if he can stay healthy, the Peruvian born, Venezuelan raised, and US educated lefty looks to have a bright future. That’s an unportant if.

The A’s already have shut down their other promising novice hurler, AJ Puk, for the rest of the season. Their main current concern about Luzardo, whose progress already has been interrupted several times by injuries, is to build up his stamina to the point that he can be counted on for seven strong innings.

Facing him on the mound tonight for Houston was another 23 year old wunderkind, rookie right hander Luis García, making his first big league start. In his brief minor league career, García pitched in 54 games, 32 as a starter.

Garcia went 18-7 ERA 2.50 in them. The highest level at which he appeared before throwing four and a third innings of relief for Huston earlier this season was in high A ball. In that game he gave up only one hit, a solo home run, walked three and struck out two. He throws mainly fast balls, but has an effective slider for a strikeout pitch and also features effective curveballs and change-ups.

One of Luzardo’s most noteable traits is his poise. He showed it in the opening inning when, later George Springer deposited the lefty´s third pitch over the center field fence, 410 feet from home, the youngster bounced back from a 3-0 count to Alednys Díaz to strike him out and retire Huston’s number three and four bats, Michael Brantley and Yuli Gurriel, to stop the bleeding before the blood had begun to flow.

The two prospects traded goose eggs for the next five innings until Yuli Gurriel jumped all over a Luzardo curve with two down in the sixth and sent it 405 feet into the stands in left center field.

García pitched superbly, but he didn’t come out to face the A’s after Gurriel’s blast. The youngster had allowed but one hit, a fourth inning single to right center by Matt Olson, and two walks to go with his four strike outs. He threw 86 pitches, only 36 of which were balls. When Dusty Baker replaced him with Andre Scrubb to start the sixth, García was in line for his first big league win. He didn’t get it.

Cionel Pérez, Houston’s second reliever of the night, walked Machín with one out in the bottom of the seventh. Out went Pérez; in came Josh James, who walked Sean Murphy but got Tony Kemp to foul out to third. Then, with two down, Tommy La Stella doubled to left to tie it up at two.

When Joakim Soria replaced Luzardo to pitch the Houston eighth he had struck out seven Astros, allowed two runs, each on a solo homer, given up four hits and a walk, and thrown exactly 100 pitches, only 40 of them balls.

Soria retired the side in order in the eighth, and Liam Hendricks repeated the trick the following inning.

The Astros, like the A’s, sent their closer into pitch the ninth frame of this time game, but Ryan Pressly wasn’t up to the task. He walked Murphy and hit Kemp with a pitch. Tommy La Stella forced Kemp out at second while Stephen Piscotty, running for Murphy, advanced to third. He was thrown out at home on Semien’s grounder to short.

That brought Laureano to the plate with runners on first and second and two down. He lashed a drive to left center that would have gone for extra bases, but since it drove in the winning run, counted for only a single. Once more, the walk off A’s emerged on top.

Liam Hendricks got the win. His record stands at 3-0,  ERA 1.40. The loss went to Pressly, who’s now 1-2, ERA 4.11.

They’ll face Houston at 12:40 tomorrow afternoon. The pitching match up will be José Urquidy (0-0, ERA 4.91) versus Sean Manaea (3-2, ERA 5.09)

A footnote on playing it by the numbers: Today was Roberto Clemente Day in the MLB. Houston shortstop Carlos Correa, who usually sports number 1, their catcher, Martín Maldonda (#15), and A’s third baseman, Vilmael Machín (#39) honored their fellow Puerto Rican by wearing number 21.