Oakland A’s starter Frankie Montas delivers against the Houston Astros in the first inning of Thu Jul 8, 2021 game at Minute Maid Field (AP News photo)

By Jerry Feitelberg

The Oakland A’s (50-39) needed their starter to find a way to stop the powerful Houston Astros’ (54-34) offense. Houston had won the first two games of the three-game series and increased their leas to 5 and 1/2 games over the A’s. Had the Astros won, they would have increased their lead to six and 1/2 games.

A’s manager Bob Melvin handed the ball to Frankie Montas to expect that Montas would shut down the Astros’ attack. Montas responded with, perhaps, his best performance of the season. Montas went six and 2/3rds innings, allowing the Astros one run and five. He struck out ten and walked one, as he won his eighth game of the year, leading the A’s to a 2-1 win.

The A’s scored all the runs they would need in the first inning. With one out, Elvis Andrus doubled. Astros’ starter, Lance McCullers, Jr. uncorked a wild pitch to send Andrus to third. Matt Olson doubled to drive in Andrus with the A’s first run. Jed Lowrie singled to drive in Olson to give the A’s the lead 2-0.

Montas had all four of his pitches working. He painted the corners with his four-seam fastball. He had command of his slider, splitter, and changeup. He was moving the ball up and down in the zone. He threw 95 pitches, and 71 were strikes. He struck out the side in the first and second innings.

In the bottom of the seventh, the Astros finally put a run on the board. Montas recorded the first two outs. Astros’ right-fielder, Kyle Tucker, doubled to start the Astro rally. He went to third on a wild pitch. Astros’ centerfielder, Chas McCormick, followed with a double to drive in Tucker with Houston’s first run. A’s manager, Bob Melvin, brought in Yusmeiro Petit to pitch to Abraham Toro. Petite got Toro to ground out to end the inning. 

Lou Trivino pitched the eighth for Oakland. Trivino walked Jason Castro to start the frame. A’s fans got a little nervous as they know the cardinal sin for any reliever is to walk the first man he faced in the inning. Trivino now had the unenviable task of facing the Astros’ three best hitters. Trivino was not fazed at all.

He got Jose Altuve to hit into a fielder’s choice, Michale Brantley to fly out to right, and Carlos Correa hit a popup to Tony Kemp at second base. Bob Melvin had Jake Diekman pitch the ninth. Diekman gave up a single to Yordano Alvarez to start the bottom of the ninth.

He got the next hitter, Yuli Guriel, to hit into a 6-4-3 double play. He retired Kyle Tucker on a soft line to Tony Kemp to preserve to win for Oakland. The A’s win a very close game 2-1.

Game Notes and Stats- with the win, the A’s are 50-39 for the years and are 4 1/2 games back of the first-place Astros. Houston is now 54-34. The line for Oakland was two runs, eight hits, and no errors. Houston’s line was one run, six hits, and one error.

The A’s pitching did an excellent job of holding down the Houston offense. Houston has averaged 5.5 runs per game so far this season.

The A’s are 4-9 against Houston this year. In all four victories, A’s pitchers have held the Houston Offense to less than six runs. The Astros have scored six or more runs in eight of the nine wins against Oakland.

Ramon Laureano, Elvis Andrus, and Jed Lowrie each had two hits on Thursday. Frankie Montas improved to 8-7. Lou Trivino earned a hold, and Jake Diekman recorded his seventh save of the season.

The first four hitters in the Astro Lineup were one-for sixteen against the A’s. Yordano Alvarez’s single in the ninth was the only hit. Bob Melvin commented after the game about Montas’ performance. It applied to all four of the A’s pitchers:”Every pitch meant something.”

Injury update: Chad Pinder was placed on the 10-day IL. Pinder injured his right hamstring running to first base on the last play of Wednesday night’s game. After running across the base, he grabbed the back of his leg as he fell to the ground. The A’s do not know how much time Pinder will need to recover.

The time of Thursday’s game was 2:52. 29,243 fans did not see their Astros win.

The A’s are on their way to Arlington, Texas, to play a three-game series with the Texas Rangers. The Rangers are 4-3 against the A’s this year. Hopefully, the momentum for Thursday’s win will continue for the A’s this weekend. After the series, the A’s are off until July 16th. They will resume play after the annual All-Star game break against the Cleveland Indians at the Coliseum.

The pitching matchups for the series will see lefty Cole Irvin go for Oakland Friday night. Texas will send Jordan Lyles to the hill. On Saturday, it will be James Kaprielian going against Mike Folynewicz. Folty has been tough on the A’s in the two games he has pitched for the Rangers. On Sunday, Chriss Bassitt will be on the mound for the A’s, and Texas will counter with lefty Kolb Allard.

Friday night’s game at Globe Life Stadium will begin at 5:05 pm.