Houston Astros Justin Verlander delivers to the Oakland A’s line up in the bottom of the sixth inning at the Oakland Coliseum on Fri May 24, 2024 (AP News photo)

Houston (23-28). 000 600 000. 6. 12. 1

Athletics (21-32). 100 010 100 3. 10 0

Time: 2:31

Attendance: 9,676

Friday, May 24, 2024

By Lewis Rubman

OAKLAND–With their 6-3 loss to the visiting Houston Astros tonight, the A’s record dipped to 21-31. All the damage was done in the fatidic fourth frame.

Like the Giants, who are having problems with their late signing of the reigning Cy Young winner, Blake Snell, the Astros have a future Hall of Famer in Justin Verlander who’s feeling the effects of a late start to the season, having spent the first three weeks of it on the IL.

His game time season’s record of 2-2, 3.97 was not what you’d expect of an all time great. His lifetime record going into today was 259-142, 3.25 with 3,368 strikeouts and 939 walks. Against the then Oakland A’s it was 16-8, 2.84 with 193 Ks and 47 walks. But he looked good Friday night.

To give you an idea of how good Verlander was, here’s what Baseball America said of him when entered the show 19 years ago;

“Verlander might have the best pure stuff in the draft, and looks like a good bet to go in the first three picks. Dozens of scouts, crosscheckers and scouting directors turned out in mid-April when Verlander faced off against Justin Orenduff, and Verlander was dominant as he punched out 16 batters and flashed consistent mid-90s heat.

The dominance continued all spring, with a 7-5, 3.19 record and 145 strikeouts in 99 innings. He broke his own Old Dominion season strikeout record of 139, set last year, and his 421 (and counting) career strikeouts are a school and Colonial Athletic Association record.

He has a lean, lanky frame with long arms and legs, and room for added strength. He has a tall, upright delivery with a lighting-quick arm, and a fastball that tops out at 99 mph with hard run and sink. He complements it with a curveball that has good late depth and sharp bite, and a deceptive changeup that has fastball arm speed and late fade and sink. Verlander’s biggest obstacle is his lack of command. He rushes his body and lands on a stiff front side as he struggles to repeat his delivery.”

He pitched a strong six innings Friday night, holding the A’s to a couple of runs, only one of them earned. That came on JJ Bleday’s leadoff home run in the fifth, a 391 foot shot to right that was his eighth round tripper of the season.

The veteran hurler allowed another seven hits but no walks, although he plunked Brent Rooker. He added nine strikeouts to his Hall of Fame credentials. With the win, his balance sheet for ’24 now stands at 3-2,, 3.60. The visitors also used Bryan Abrreu, who gave up a solo home run to JJ Bleday. in the seventh, Ryan Pressly in the eighth, and Josh Hader, who earned his seventh save, in the ninth

Miguel Andújar, whom the Athletics called up from Las Vegas and batted cleanup today, also showed great promise at the start of his career, but he never lived up to it He came in second in the voting for the 2018 AL Rookie of the Year, having hit .297 in 149. games for the Yankees.

The winner was Shohei Ohtani. Although the six foot, 210 pound Dominican playeð in parts of six more major league seasons, he never exceeded 27 games in any of them. The A’s claimed him from the waiver list last November 6 and signed him to a one year contract. He went three for four and drove in two runs tonight.

The Astros didn’t start out playing like a team that had won 10 of its last 14 games, which is what they were, coughing up an unearned run in the bottom of the first on a dropped pop fly by shortstop Jeremy Peña, who was driven in on Andújar’s single in what was his first major league at bat of 2024.

Ross Stripling, starting for the Athletics Friday night, also aroused great expectations, but of a different sort. He retired the first nine Astros he faced before a pair of infield singles in the top of the fourth opened the floodgates and put the ‘tros ahead, 6-1.

The details are onerous, so here’s a brief list of what followed the two scratch hits; Alvarez doubled; Bergman singled; Peña forced Bergman out at second; Singleton singled; Jake Meyers hit a 403 foot, three RBI home run.

There was no more scoring in the frame, and Stripling was lifted after Altuve singled in his second at bat of the inning. The uprooted Stripling had lasted 3-2/3 innings and thrown 61 pitches, 41 for strikes. All of the six runs he allowed were earned, and they came on eight hits.

It goes without saying that he was the losing pitcher. It’s worth mentioning that his record now is 1-9, 5.82. Kyle Muller took Striping’s place and stymied the ‘stros on four hits and a walk until Michael Kelly relieved him with runners on first and second and two down in the top of the eighth. Kelly got the third out, completing his night’s work with one pitch. TJ McFarland shut down the ‘stros, allowing just a base on balls in the ninth.

The A’s will try for their first win against five losses to Houston when they take the field Saturday, at 1:07 in the afternoon. JP Sears (3-3, 4.31) will start for the Athletics, and Spencer Arrighetti (2-4, 7.16) will be on the hill for Houston.