The Houston Astros Martin Maldonado (right) takes catcher Sean Murphy (left) and the Oakland A’s deep in the fourth inning for a two run home run at the Oakland Coliseum on Thu May 20, 2021 (AP News photo)

Houston 8 – 14 – 0

Oakland 4. – 8 – 1

By Lewis Rubman

Thu May 20, 2021

OAKLAND–You don’t have to be the village explainer to understand that the modern pitching format of a six to seven inning starting performance + two or three relief specialists is fine if all of those moving parts are functioning properly on the same day. If not, not.

Wednesday night’s A’s defeat at the hands of the Houston Astros 8-1 and their own bullpen was an example. The struggling Frankie Montás, after an extremely rocky first inning, pitched gutsy but uneconomically through five frames, throwing 98 pitches in the process and managed to hold his opponents scoreless after a first inning that boded disaster and yielded three runs.

The A’s pitchers who followed him did not. Especially concerning was Sergio Romo’s brief stint on the mound, since he had been showing signs of breaking out of his early season funk and becoming a key member of the bullpen staff.

But, as Scarlette O’Hara observed, tomorrow is another day, and Thursday afternoon at the Oakland Coliseum it was left handed Cole Irvin (3-4, 3.02) who toed the rubber against Houston’s right handed starter Luis García in the rubber match of this important three game series, which would have been crucial had it occurred later in the season. Unfortunately for the A’s the hitting prowess of Jose Altuve and Martin Maldonado proved too much as the Astros took two out of three from the A’s winning Thursday 8-4.

This time it was Oakland that jumped ahead early. Mark Canha led off by blasting his eighth home run on García’s second offering, a 90 mph fast ball that landed 374 feet from home over the low fence in left field. The one run lead Canha’s homer gave Oakland soon was gone with the wind. Myles Straw led off the top of the third with a single to left.

He scored on Martín Maldonado’s double to left. The slow moving Maldonado was helped in his attempt to stretch his hit by the trouble Canha had in fielding it. Irvin walked Altuve before yielding a single to right center to Michael Brantley, which enabled Maldonado to score and the fleet footed Altuve to reach third. Alex Bergman’s single to center made it 3-1 with runners on first and second and still no one out. Irvin got out of that jam by striking out Yordán Alvarez and getting Yuli Gurriel to hit a bouncer to Chapman at third for an inning ending U5-3 double play.

The A’s came roaring back in their half of the third. Tony Kemp, wearing sparkling shoes that could have taken Dorothy back to Kansas the way they glilstened in the afternoon sun, led off by launching his first round tripper of the year, a 352 foot no doubter into the right field seats, on a 91 mph fastball. But all that Oakland could add to that was Canha’s base on balls.

Maldonado, who came into the game with the gross batting average of .144 and already had hit a questionably scored double in the third, hit an unquestionable home run in the fourth. Tucker was on second with two outs when the Astros’ backstop hit his third dinger of the year, 388 feet into the right field stands on an 89 mph fast ball. lt seemed that with each step forward, the A’s took two steps back. Houston now led 5-2.

Burch Smith relieved Irvin to start the sixth. He lasted five innings, giving up five runs, all earned, on eight hits, including one home run, and two walks, throwing 86 pitches, 55 for strikes, and was on the hook for the loss when he left the game.

The bottom half of the inning began with leftly Brooks Raley on the mound for Houston. García had thrown 92 pitches, 58 for stirkes, over five frames. He had allowed two runs, which were earned and had come on solo homers. His walk total was two, and his strike outs, seven. He was in line for the win on departing.

Oakland caught a break when Straw and Brantley couldn’t decide which of them would catch the fly ball Olson lifted into left center with one out, and it fell between them for a double. After Chapman flew out to Brantley in left, and Lowrie singled to right, scoring Olson and bringing the home team to within two runs of the visitors, whom they trailed, 5-3.

Houston got that run back in the top of the seventh. Altuve stretched his hitting streak to 14 on a single to left. Brantley then lined out to Kemp, who deliberately let the ball fall from his glove to the infield dirt and tlhrew to Andrus at second, hoping for. double play.

But first base umpire Chris Guccione would have none of that, and the play was ruled a line out with Altuve still safe at first. Bregman then doubled him home, and Oakland once more was looking at a three run deficit. They also were looking at the offerings of Bryan Abreu, who came in to pitch the seventh for the Astros.

The crafty but thwarted Tony Kemp greeted him with a double to left. Andrus hit a bounder to the mound, which caught Kemp in no man’s land between second and third, but he managed to stay in a rundown long enough for Andrus to reach second before Houston put Kemp out, 1-4-5.

Kemp’s heads up baserunning was as in vain as his attempted Little League trickery in the top of the inning had been. Both Canha and Brown grounded out, and that was it for the A’s in the seventh.

Reymin Gudjuan, who retired Houston with one hit in the ninth last night, came in and immediately gave up a hit, a double to left, to Correa. That was all he gave up.

Dusty Baker entrusted the job of holding the A’s at bay in the eigthth to Ryan Stanek. He hit the first batter he faced, Ramón Laureano, on the second pitch he threw. Five more pitches, and he’d walked Olson, putting two runners on with no outs and the resurgent Matt Chapman at the plate.

Chappy took him to 2-2, and then struck out swinging on a 99 mph fastball that he tipped into Maldonado’s mitt. It was a 98 mph fastball that got Lowrie swinging and missing for the strike out that made it two down. Now it was up to Sean Murphy. He walked, bringing up Kemp with the bases loaded. And that’s where Staneks’ labors ended, replaced by Ryan Pressly.

Kemp grounded out, second to first.

That was a letdown. What happened in the top of the ninth was a bigger one. Altuve singled to right. Laureano robbed Brantley of extra bases with his grab of a fly ln right in right center. Then Bregman singled to right, rifling a shot past Kemp.

Alvarez a grounder to Olson that had double play written all over it and threw to second for the force out. Andrus threw back to first, but wildly, allowing Altuve to score and Alvarez to move on to second. Gurriel drove him in from there on a single to center, and, for the second straight game, Houston had put up eight runs against the A´s. Seth Brown hit an anticlimactic home run to right, but it was too little, too late, and a called third strike on a full count to Laureano ended the frustrating day for the A’s.

The win went to García and the loss to Irvin. The A’s go to Anaheim to face the Angels in a three game set and will return to the Coliseum on the 24th to duke it out with Seattle. Melvin got ejected. The Astros now are in first place. And that’s that.