Houston Astros Jose Altuve (27) gives thanks to the good Lord after hitting his third inning home run against catcher Shea Langeliers (23) and the Sacramento A’s at Minute Maid Field on Sat Jun 6, 2026 (AP News photo)

By Mauricio Segura

Kade Morris took the baseball for the Sacramento Athletics with a fresh major league slate, a big-league mound under his feet, and a team hoping his debut would be worth remembering. In one way, it was. Just not the way a rookie pictures it.

The Houston Astros jumped ahead early, broke the game open in the second inning, and kept pressing the A’s until a rough road trip sank further into a 13-2 loss on Saturday that was mostly decided before the scorekeeper’s ink had dried in the middle innings.

The first inning gave Morris a small taste of the challenge. Jeremy Peña grounded out to open the Astros’ half, but Yordan Alvarez drew a walk and Christian Walker followed with a double to left. That set up Isaac Paredes, who lifted a sacrifice fly that brought Alvarez home for a 1-0 Houston lead. Morris escaped further damage by striking out Jose Altuve, but the Astros had already shown they were not going to spend much time guessing.

The second inning turned the rookie debut sideways. LaMonte Wade Jr. led off with a home run to left-center, and Houston kept stacking traffic from there. Taylor Trammell drew a walk, Christian Vázquez singled, and Peña drew another walk to load the bases.

Alvarez then delivered the swing that defined the afternoon, sending a bases-loaded homer to right field that pushed Houston ahead 6-0. For Morris, who became the 182nd pitcher in Athletics history to start his major league debut, the afternoon ended with a long walk off the mound and the quiet hope that baseball had a “mulligan” clause tucked somewhere inside the 2026 official rules booklet. It doesn’t.

The A’s did show some fight in the third. Nick Kurtz drew a walk with two outs, Brent Rooker singled, and Tyler Soderstrom drove in Kurtz with a single to center. Henry Bolte was hit by a pitch to load the bases, and Zack Gelof followed with a walk that forced in Rooker, cutting the deficit to 6-2.

It was the one inning where the Athletics made Tatsuya Imai work, and it had a chance to become something bigger. Jeff McNeil struck out to end it, leaving three runners aboard and leaving the A’s with a missed chance that grew heavier as the game moved along.

Houston answered right back. Altuve led off the bottom of the third with a solo homer to left, restoring a five-run lead. The Athletics did get one defensive highlight when Carlos Cortes threw out Wade trying for third after a Trammell single, and Darell Hernaiz helped start a double play that ended the inning. But Houston already had the scoreboard tilted hard in its favor.

The fifth inning finished the job. Walker and Paredes opened with singles, and José Suarez replaced Morris. From there, Houston poured on six more runs. Wade doubled home two. Jake Meyers singled in Altuve. Vázquez doubled home Wade. Peña doubled home Meyers and Vázquez. By the time Alvarez struck out and Walker followed with another strikeout to end the inning, the Astros had a 13-2 lead and the rest of the game had become a matter of finishing the paperwork.

The Athletics’ offense never found another real push. Cortes had two hits before later taking the mound in a position-player pitching appearance, while Soderstrom reached base and drove in a run. Gelof’s RBI walk extended his productive stretch, and Bolte reached twice, once by hit-by-pitch and once by walk. Still, the A’s struck out 12 times and went quiet against the Houston bullpen. AJ Blubaugh handled the middle innings, and Alimber Santa finished the ninth after allowing two baserunners but no runs.

For the Athletics, the loss stung because it followed a stretch in which the club had played Houston well over the past year, including a winning season series in 2025. It also added to the recent strain on a rotation that has been patched together often, with Morris becoming the ninth different A’s starter over a 12-game span. His final line, nine runs allowed over four-plus innings, will not make for pretty reading, but the larger story is still development. Big-league hitters do not offer soft landings.

Game 3 gives the Sacramento A’s another chance to right some wrongs, with Gage Jump (1-1, 3.75 ERA, 10 K) set to face Houston’s Mike Burrows (3-7, 5.66 ERA, 57 K) in an 11:10 a.m. Pacific first pitch, a breakfast baseball test for a team that could use a strong cup of left-handed recovery.

Costa Rican-born Mauricio Segura has been covering sports in the Bay Area since 2001 for a variety of magazines and newspapers, as well as his own publication, Golden Bay Times.

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