Houston Astros pitcher Ryan Pressly thanks the almighty after striking out the Oakland A’s Brent Rooker to end the ball game in the top of the ninth at Minute Maid Field in Houston on Wed Sep 13, 2023 (AP News photo)

By Jerry Feitelberg

The Oakland A’s were set to sweep the Houston Astros Wednesday night at Minute Maid Park . The A’s won the first two games by shutting down the Astros’ potent lineup. The A’s had Paul Blackburn on the hill. His task was to give the A’s a quality start and hope the A’s offense could come through for the third straight game.

Unfortunately for Oakland, the Astros’ pitchers turned the tables on the A’s. The A’s recorded their first hit of the game with one out in the ninth. Had the Astros no-hit the A’s, the A’s would have been the second team in Major League history to have been the victims of a perfect game and a no-hitter in the same season. The only team to have that happen was the 2010 Tampa Bay Rays. As it was, the Astros beat the A’s 6-2.

With one out in the bottom of the third, Blackburn walked Jose Altuve and Jeremy Pena. The next hitter, Yordan Alvarez, who had hit 21 home runs against the A’s since 2019, stepped to the plate. Alvarez launched a missile that left the park traveling 117.7 miles per hour. It was Alvarez’s 27th big fly of the season. Astros third baseman Alex Bregman followed with his 23rd home run of the year to give the Astros a 4-0 lead. Blackburn labored through the inning. He threw 34 pitches and was done for the night. 

The Astros added a run in the fifth to make it 5-0. Lefty Kyle Muller was pitching for Oakland. With two out, Michael Brantley singled.. Astros’ catcher Yainer Diaz doubled to drive in Brantley. The Astros made it 6-0 in the seventh.

Lefty Easton Lucas, acquired from Baltimore in the trade for Shintaro Fujinami, retired the first two Houston hitters. Lucas had to face Kyle Tucker now. Tucker was hitless in ten trips to the plate in the series. However, Tucker had owned A’s pitching before this series.

Tucker found one of Lucas’ pitches to his liking and sent it out of the park to make it a 6-0 game. For Tucker, it was his 105th run batted in. Tucker leads the AL in that department. It was his 27th home run of the year and his 100th career homer.

The A’s put two runs on the board in the ninth. Astros’ closer Ryan Pressly was on the mound to finish off the A’s. Four Houston pitchers had held the A’s hitless for eight innings. Pressly retired Tony Kemp for the first out. Zack Gelof walked. He was the fourth base runner of the game for the A’s. All Pressly had to do was get the next two outs without a hit.

Ryan Noda, who hits from the left side, broke up the no-hitter with a single up the middle, sending Gelof to third. Seth Brown singled to drive in Gelof with Oakland’s first run. Noda went to third on the play and scored on Shea Langelier’s sacrifice fly. Pressly struck out Brent Rooker to end the game. The Astros won 6-2.

Game Notes: With the loss, the A’s are now 46-100 for the year. This is the second consecutive year that the A’s will have lost 100 or more games in a season. The Astros improved to 83-64. The Astros needed the win as the Texas Rangers beat the Toronto Blue Jays, and the Seattle Mariners beat the LA Angels. The Astros have a one-game advantage over the Rangers and a game and 1/2 lead over Seattle. With 15 games left in the season, the race will go down to the wire.

The Line for Oakland was two runs, two hits, and no errors. Blackburn was the losing pitcher. He pitched three innings, allowing four runs, four hits, and two home runs. 

The line for Houston was six runs, nine hits, and no errors. The Astros hit three home runs. The winning pitcher was Hunter Brown. Brown went five innings, allowing no hits and no runs. He struck out seven and walked two. 

The A’s are off on Thursday. The A’s will host the San Diego Padres for three games starting Friday night. Former A’s manager Bob Melvin will return to the Coliseum for the first time after leaving in 2021. Melvin took the A’s to the playoffs six times in the ten years he managed the club. Lefty Sean Newcomb (0-1 ERA 0.75) will go for Oakland. Seth Lugo (6-7 ERA 3.80) will go for San Diego. The game will start at 6:40 p.m.