Houston Astros Yordan Alvarez rounds the bases after hitting a bottom of the fifth home run off the Oakland A’s at Minute Maid Field in Houston on Fri Sep 16, 2022 (AP News photo)

Astros Dominate Oakland In Game Two 5-0

By Barbara Mason

Friday night the Oakland A’s (52-93) took on the Houston Astros (95-50) in game two of their four game series. Last night the Astros topped the A’s 5-2. The game was tied 2-2 going into the bottom of the seventh inning.

Houston scored three runs in the seventh and that was the ball game. Aledmys Diaz homered driving in Jeremy Pena and Kyle Tucker added a single driving in Alex Bregman.

The Astros scored early in game two and after seven innings had a 5-0 lead. The Astros put together a home run derby with long balls in the first, third and the fifth innings. Yordan Alvarez had three home runs, one in the first, one in the third and one in the fifth.

Alvarez was the driving force for Houston in this game. Jeremy Pena also had a home run in the fifth inning. Yuli Gurriel scored a run in the sixth inning when Martin Maldonado singled. The Astros were working their way toward a shut-out.

Starting A’s pitcher Adrian Martinez went five innings allowing four hits and four home runs putting the A’s in a hole from the start of the game. Through seven innings Oakland could only come up with two hits. Justin Verlander had his 17th win of the season.

The A’s struck out 16 times in this game and could only manage three hits. It’s tough to win any game with offense that is struggling.

So the A’s will play Houston tomorrow in game three with first pitch at 5:10 pm PDT. Houston leads the American League with 95 wins and are constantly proving just why they are the best that the American League has to offer. Cole Irvin (8-11, 3.73) will take the mound for the A’s and Jose Urquidy (13-6, 3.75) will get the nod for Houston.