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Photo credit: @Athletics

By Jerry Feitelberg

OAKLAND — The Houston Astros continued their dominance over the Oakland A’s once again as they won in a laugher 13-5 at O.co Coliseum on Wednesday night.

The Astros are now 7-1 against the A’s this season and have won 26 of the last 34 games played between the two teams. Houston has won all five games played here in Oakland, and they must just salivate when they get on the plane to face the A’s.

The Astros changed the words of the late mayor of Boston, James Curley, who once said, “Vote often and early” to score often and early. They plated three runs in the first and seven in the second. Their designated hitter, Evan Gattis, homered twice and drove in five runs as he waged war on the A’s pitchers. Gattis has three homers and 10 RBIs in two games played thus far. The A’s are likely hoping that Gattis will be too tired to play on Thursday.

The Astros continued their onslaught on the A’s pitching staff in the very first inning of the game. George Springer and Jose Altuve singled to get Houston going. Blackburn walked Carlos Correa to load the bases with no out. The cleanup hitter, Yuli Guriel, who leads the league in batting average (.444) with RISP (Runners in Scoring Position) singled to put two runs on the board for the Astros. Correa went to third on the play and scored on an Evan Gattis sacrifice fly. The Astros led 3-0 with the A’s coming to bat. The A’s didn’t score in their half.

The Astros sent 10 men to the plate in the top of the second. They had six hits and scored seven runs. A’s manager Bob Melvin had to go to the bullpen as the Astros had their attack in full gear. The Astros scored three times and had two men on with one out when Melvin brought in Emilio Pagan to face Evan Gattis. Gattis, who drove in five runs on Tuesday, slammed his 12th bomb of the year to put the Astros ahead 9-0. Marwin Gonzalez, playing third base, followed with his fifth homer to put the Astros in the lead 10-0 in the middle of the second inning.

In the bottom of the fourth, Oakland put three on the board. Khris Davis started the frame with a single. Gerrit Cole retired the next two hitters before walking Marcus Semien. A’s right fielder Stephen Piscotty took Cole deep for his fourth home run of the year to make it a 10-3 game.

The A’s continued to chip away at the lead as Khris Davis led off the bottom of the sixth with his 18th tater of the season. Cole escaped with no further damage. The A’s still have a long way to go to get back into the game as they trail 10-4 after six complete.

Gattis continued to punish Oakland pitching. He hit his second home run of the night on the first pitch from lefty Daniel Coulombe to make it 11-4. Gattis has faced Coulombe three times and has homered twice.

Melvin brought in outfielder Jake Smolinski to pitch the ninth. Smolinski was making his  Major League debut as a pitcher. Things did not go well for him as he gave up a double to Max Stassi and Jake Marisnick homered to give Houston the lead 13-5. Smolinski retired the next three hitters. The A’s went down in order in the ninth to end the game. The Astros won 13-5.

Game Notes and Info: With the win, the Astros improve to 44-25 and remain just 1/2 game behind the Seattle Mariners in the race for first place in the AL West. The Mariners beat the LA Angels earlier in the day.

Gerrit Cole was the winning pitcher. Cole is 8-1 for Houston this season. He went six innings and gave up six hits and four runs.

Two of the A’s hits were home runs by Stephen Piscotty and Khris Davis.

A’s starter Paul Blackburn had a very rough outing. He lasted just 1 1/3 innings. He gave up eight hits and was charged with eight runs. Emilio Pagan relieved him in the second inning, and Pagan gave up back-to-back home runs to Evan Gattis and Marwin Gonzalez. The hitting stars for Oakland were Khris Davis with two homers and Stephen Piscotty with a three-run blast. Blackburn’s record is now 1-1, and his ERA rocketed from 1.50 to 11.05.

There were just 9,164 fans in the park watching, and the game took three hours and five minutes to play.

Up Next: The two teams conclude the three-game series Thursday afternoon at 12:30 pm PDT.

Oakland will send Frankie Montas to the Hill. Montas has won all three of his starts since being recalled from Nashville, and he has a 1.25 ERA.

Justin Verlander (8-2, 1.45 ERA) will pitch for Houston.

Photo credit: @astros

By Jerry Feitelberg

OAKLAND — The Houston Astros continued their mastery over the A’s as they defeated them 6-3 and improved to a 6-1 advantage this season.

Astros starter Lance McCullers worked seven innings and gave up just five hits and two runs. He gave up singles to the first two hitters and three doubles to Matt Chapman. None of the other A’s hitter could solve McCullers’ slants.

A’s starter Daniel Mengden, who was pounded in his last start against the Texas Rangers last week, couldn’t make it out the fifth inning Tuesday night.

The Astros’ Evan Gattis, who has killed the A’s in the past, was the hitting star for Houston with a home run and a double that drove in five of the Astros’ six runs.

In the bottom of the first, Oakland took an early 1-0 lead. Leadoff hitter Dustin Fowler singled to get things going. Marcus Semien reached on an infield single. Jed Lowrie hit into a 4-6-3 double play. Fowler advanced to third and scored when McCullers uncorked a wild pitch.

In the top of the second, the Astros vaunted offense came to life as they rocked Mengden for four runs on four hits, two of which went out of the park, and two walks. Astros’ shortstop Carlos Correa sent Mengden’s first pitch into the seats in left field to tie the game. Yuli Guriel doubled, and Mengden walked Josh Reddick to put men on at first and second with no one out. Designated hitter Evan Gattis, who has murdered A’s pitching in the past, hit his 11th of the year to put the Astros ahead 4-1. Mengden was able to get out of the inning without any further damage. The A’s put their second run of the night on the board in their half of the inning. The A’s third baseman Matt Chapman doubled to start the inning. He went to third on a groundout and scored on Stephen Piscotty’s sacrifice fly to center field. The A’s trailed 4-2 after two innings.

The Astros plated two more runs in the top of the fifth. With one out, Mengden walked Carlos Correa. He retired Yuli Guriel for the second out, but gave up a single to Josh Reddick and a double to Evan Gattis. Two runs scored on the play and A’s manager Bob Melvin removed Mengden from the game. Lefty Danny Coulombe retired Brian McCann for the final out of the inning.

Mengden’s pitching line was not very good. He allowed eight hits, six runs all earned, and was tagged for two home runs in just 4 2/3 innings of work.

The A’s plated their third run of the night, thanks to Collin McHugh’s wildness and an error by Carlos Correa. With one out, McHugh plunked Jed Lowrie with a pitch. Khris Davis reached on Correa’s error to put men on at first and second with one out. McHugh struck out Matt Olson for the second out. The next hitter Matt Chapman, who had three consecutive double, was hit on the wrist to load the bases. A’s manager Bob Melvin, and the trainer raced out to first base to see if Chapman was okay. After he was checked by the trainer, Chapman stayed in the game. Mark Canha followed with a single to drive in Lowrie. Houston brought in Brad Peacock to fave Stephen Piscotty. Peacock, the former athletic, struck out Piscotty for the third out. Houston has a 6-3 advantage after eight innings.

Astros’ closer Ken Giles gave up a single to Dustin Fowler, but was still able to record the three outs necessary to end the game and earn his 11th save of the year as Houston wins 6-3.

Game Notes: With the win, the Astros–who are in a battle for first place in the AL West with the Seattle Mariners–improved to 43-25.

The A’s dropped to 34-31. Oakland is now 10-22 against the AL West and 24-11 against the rest of the AL.

Lance McCullers was the winning pitcher and is now 8-3 for the season.

Daniel Mengden absorbed the loss, and his record dropped to 6-6.

Astros’ Ken Giles recorded his 11th save.

The line score for Houston was six runs, 11 hits, and one error.

The A’s line was three runs, seven hits, and no errors.

Time of the game was two hours and 57 minutes and 11,742 fans watched the A’s go down to a defeat.

Up Next: Game two of the three-game series will be played Wednesday night at the Coliseum. The A’s Paul Blackburn will make his second start of the year. Blackburn will be going against Gerrit Cole, who owns a 7-1 record and a sparkling 2.16 ERA.