AP photo: Oakland A’s Jake Smolinski (5) is greeted by teammate Chad Pinder (18) after scoring in the second inning off the Houston Astros on Wednesday at Minute Maid Field
Houston- The Houston Astros swept the three-game series with the A’s Wednesday afternoon in Houston as they came-from-behind in the bottom of the eighth to beat the A’s 4-3. The A’s starter, Ross Detwiler, had an excellent outing. He pitched seven innings and allowed just three hits and one run while striking out seven. Detwiler, in his five starts with Oakland, has had three terrific games. He also had two poor starts, too.Detwiler pitched well enough to win, but Liam Hendriks could not get the job done. Hendriks, who had improved his game after being on the DL earlier this year, gave up the three runs that propelled the Astros to victory. The Houston starter, Mike Fiers, went five innings, allowed eight hits and three runs, two of which were unearned. As Bob Melvin would say, doesn’t matter if they are earned or unearned, we’ll take them. However, the A’s neither scored nor got a hit after the fifth inning as the Houston bullpen stopped them cold.
The A’s scored three runs in the second inning. The key play was a Carlos Correa error that led to two unearned runs for Oakland. Jake Smolinski drove in two with a triple, and Bruce Maxwell had a single to drive another run. The ‘Stros scored one in the bottom of the fourth as Correa made up for his error by driving in the first run of the game for Houston.
Bob Melvin summoned Liam Hendriks from the bullpen to start the eighth inning. Hendriks retired the first two hitters but then the roof caved in on him. George Springer tripled to put a man on third with two out. The next hitter, Alex Bregman, struck out swinging, but the ball got by catcher Bruce Maxwell. Springer scored, and Bregman reached first safely. Jose Altuve tripled to drive in Bregman, and Altuve scored on an Evan Gattis single to put Houston ahead 4-3. Ken Giles earned his seventh save of the year as he closed out the game to secure the win for Houston.
Game Notes- The Astros now lead the A’s 10-6 for the season. The two teams will conclude play against each other when the Astros visit the Oakland Coliseum September 19,20 and 21.
The A’s recalled Joey Wendle from Triple-A Nashville to replace the departed Coco Crisp. Wendle, 26-years old, made his Major League Debut Wednesday in Houston. Wendle went hitless but did score a run.
The A’s are off on Thursday as they return home for a three-game series this weekend with the Boston Red Sox. David Ortiz will be visiting the Coliseum for the last time as he is retiring at the end of the season. The A’s then play the Los Angeles Angels and Seattle Mariners to conclude the homestand.
AP photo: Kendall Graveman Oakland A’s pitcher in the seventh inning gives up a home run to Evan Gattis of the Houston Astros on Tuesday night at Minute Maid Field
Houston- The Astros took the second game of the three-game set 3-1 Tuesday night in Houston. The victory meant the Astros would win the series, and they go for the sweep Wednesday afternoon. The Astro’s starter Collin McHugh pitched six scoreless innings and allowed the A’s just four hits. The A’s Kendall Graveman also pitched well but not well enough to win. Graveman went seven innings and allowed three runs on four hits. Unfortunately, two of those hits were solo home runs.
Colby Rasmus hit a solo homer in the second to give the Astros the lead 1-0. It was Rasmus’ first plate appearance since he came off the DL. Houston scored a single run in the third on a RBI single by Alex Bregman. Evan Gattis unloaded his twenty-second of the year in the seventh to extend the lead to 3-0. The A’s scored an unearned run in the top of the eighth but it wasn’t quite enough to catch the Astros and they fall to Houston 3-1.
Game Notes- With the loss, Graveman’s record fall to 10-9. He leads the A’s staff with ten wins. “We just didn’t do enough offensively to give [Graveman] support,” A’s manager Bob Melvin said. “We’ll take that stuff every night.”
“Those are the games where you save two runs there, make a couple better pitches and then you’re 1-1, so they did a good job of neutralizing our offense, and you get that feeling where you need to keep it where it’s at, but to go out and eat some innings was good,” Graveman said. “But I still feel like there’s work to be done.”
The Astros have now won nine of the last eleven games played, and they find themselves in the thick of the race for either the first or second Wild Card slot. The Red Sox are currently in the first slot. They lead the Orioles by two games. The Orioles lead the Tigers by one, and the Royals and Astros are also two back of Baltimore.
The A’s meet the Astros again Wednesday for the final game of the series. Game time will be at 11:10 am PT. Lefty Ross Detwiler(1-3) will make his fifth start as an Athletic, and Mike Fiers(9-6) will throw for Houston.
In other news, there are reports that the A’s have traded Coco Crisp to the Cleveland Indians. Coco was not in the lineup Tuesday night, and he cleaned out his locker and left the park before the start of the game. The formal announcement will be made Wednesday after approval of the trade by Major League Baseball.
AP photo: Oakland A’s starter Sean Manaea pitches to the Houston Astros on Monday night at Minute Field in the second inning
Houston- The Houston Astros shutout the Oakland A’s 6-0 behind a strong performance by rookie Joe Musgrove. Musgrove, whose last two starts were a disaster, got back on track and blanked the A’s over five and 1/3rd innings of work. Musgrove allowed just three hits while walking three and striking out seven. He had retired eleven of the first thirteen A’s batters before Khris Davis singled in the fourth. The A’s lefty Sean Manaea took the loss. Manaea is now 5-9 for the season. Manaea went just three and 1/3rd innings and gave up two unearned runs. He allowed just one hit and struck out four. Manaea left the game with a left rhomboid strain. The rhomboid muscle is located between the spine and the scapula. Manaea is listed as day-to-day. Manaea said it is “just frustrating from where I’m at. I have “already been on the DL once and to me, it feels like I’m letting everyone down.I hate being hurt and just getting taken out early.” Chris Smith took over, and he was touched up for four Houston runs in the sixth and seventh innings.
Houston scored two unearned runs in the bottom of the second to take a 2-0 lead. Manaea walked a man with the bases loaded twice to plate the two Houston runs.The Astros’ All-Star second baseman, Jose Altuve homered off Chris Smith in the sixth to put the ‘Stros up 3-0. They scored two more in the seventh to put the game away 6-0. They key hits were a single by Alex Bregman that drove in two and a RBI single off the bat of Carlos Correa.
Game Notes- The A’s reinstated Billy Butler off the 7-day concussion DL Monday. Reliever Sean Doolittle, who is out with a shoulder strain, will have a rehab assignment Tuesday with Triple-A Nashville. Former All-Star, Henderson Alvarez, recovering from shoulder surgery, is set to start a rehab assignment in Stockton. Jesse Hahn will pitch Wednesday for Nashville.
The A’s meet the Astros Tuesday night for the second game of the three-game series. Kendall Graveman(10-8) will pitch for Oakland, and Collin McHugh (8-10) will handle the pitching chores for the Astros. Game time will be at 5:05 pm PT.
AP photo: Houston Astros pitcher Doug Fister delivering pitch in the first inning puts a fist in the Oakland A’s hitting with a shutout on Wednesday afternoon at the Oakland Coliseum
OAKLAND–The A’s were hoping to get a sweep against the Houston Astros Wednesday afternoon at the Oakland Coliseum. The A’s had Houston native Daniel Mengden on the mound looking for his second victory of the year. Houston’s Doug Fister, however, stopped the A’s cold as he went seven innings and allowed just four hits and he won his tenth game of the year beating the A’s 7-0. Mengden’s record is now 1-5. He gave up three runs and five hits and left the game after five innings. The A’s had no offense, no pitching, and no defense as they lost for fifty-third time this season.
The Astros struck first in the top of the first. With one out, Marwin Gonzalez, playing left field, singled. The second baseman, Jose Altuve, batting .354 and leading the AL in hitting, followed with a single. Mengden walked Carlos Correa to load the bases. Luis Valbuena grounded into a fielder’s choice, and that allowed Gonzalez to score. Mengden retired Colby Rasmus to end the inning.
The Astros scored two more in the second. Mengden retired the first two hitters, but he could not retire any one of the next five hitters. The Astros rally consisted of a walk, double, walk, single and another walk that produced the two runs. The Astros lead 3-0 in the middle of the second.
The Astros put two more on the board in the eighth. Rookie lefty Patrick Schuster gave up a double and two walks to load the bases for the ‘Stros Jose Altuve. Altuve blooped a single that drove in the two runs for Houston. They lead 5-0 heading into the A’s half of the inning. Houston plated another two in the ninth. Schuster retired the first two batters but a single, triple and doubled produced the runs. Houston owns a commanding 7-0 lead with the A’s coming up in the bottom of the ninth. Houston reliever Chris Devinski retired the A’s in order to end the game.
Game notes- The A’s are 4-2 since the All-Star break and now fall to 7-9 in July. The A’s record is now 42-53. Daniel Mengden is now winless in his last four starts. Yonder Alonso and Ryon Healy both had their four-game hitting streaks snapped. Josh Reddick was 2-for-4 and has hit safely in his last three games. Stephen Vogt hit safely in his seventh straight game.
The Houston Astros are now 51-44 for the season and are 34-16 since May 23rd. Fister is 10-6 for the year and leads the Astros staff with the ten wins. Jose Altuve has reached base safely in 35 straight games, which is the longest streak by an Astro player since Jeff Bagwell had a 51-game streak from September 23rd, 1998 to July 31st,1999.
The Tampa Bay Rays arrive in Oakland for a four-game set with the A’s starting Thursday night. The A’s Sonny Gray (4-8,5.12) will pitch for the Green and Gold. Lefty Matt Moore will pitch for the Rays. Moore’s record is 5-7, and his ERA is 4.33. Game time will be 7:05 PM at the Oakland Coliseum.
Time of game on Wednesday was three hours and six minutes. 20,231 fans watched the A’s go down to defeat.
Heading into the game on Sunday with the Astros, the Oakland Athletics had gone 15 consecutive games without committing an error – a franchise record. On Sunday, the A’s committed four errors and one of those errors literally cost them the game as they lost the series finale 2-1 in 10 innings to the Astros in Houston.
In the bottom of the 10th inning with two out and runners at the corners, Carlos Correa hit a hard grounder down the third base line that Danny Valencia fielded 10 feet behind the bag. Valencia’s throw pulled first baseman Yonder Alonso off the base allowing Carlos Correa to reach safely. The Astros Jake Marisnick took off from third with the crack of the bat and he scored easily to give Houston its second walk-off victory of the four-game series.
The win gave the Astros a 2-2 split in the final series before the All-Star Break. The A’s finish their seven-game road trip with 3-4 record. Oakland finishes “the unofficial first-half of the season” with a record of 38-51 in fourth place in the American League West 15.5 games behind division leading Texas.
Beyond the tragedy of losing an extra-inning game on an error, the A’s wasted a great outing by rookie starting pitcher Sean Manaea. Manaea who was roughed up in his last start really rebounded on Sunday. He worked 7.0 innings on Sunday giving up no runs on just five hits. Manaea walked none and struck out six Astro batters. He threw 106 pitches (72 strikes) in his seven innings of work. Manaea wound up with a no decision for his start on Sunday.
On the Bump
The A’s used a total of four pitchers on Sunday. John Axford pitched one scoreless inning and struck out two taking over for Manaea in the eighth inning. Ryan Madson was brought in to close out the game out in the ninth inning. Madson gave up a one-out infield single to Carlos Gomez who then advanced to second on a stolen base. With two out, Evan Gattis lined a double to left that drove Gomez home to tie the game at 1-1. It was Madson’s second blown save of the series and his fifth of the season.
Liam Hendricks was on the mound in the bottom of the 10th when the winning run crossed the plate so he is hung with the loss and his record falls to 0-2.
Dallas Keuchel started the game for Houston. Last year’s Cy Young Award winner has really struggled this season. He worked seven innings against the A’s giving up one run (earned) on four hits. Keuchel struck out five and walked two. Keuchel (6-9, 4.80) ended up with a no decision despite turning in one of his better performances of the seasons.
Astros reliever Will Harris gets the win as he was pitcher of record in the 10th inning.
In the Batter’s Box
There are not many highlights to talk about for the A’s at the plate. The Athletics managed to accumulate just four hits on Sunday afternoon. All of their hits were singles.
The A’s scored their lone run by putting two of those singles together in the sixth inning. Catcher Matt McBride led the inning off with a grounder to left field. McBride moved up to second on a sacrifice bunt by Coco Crisp. Marcus Semien then hit a sharp line drive to left that allowed McBride to score from second.
Oakland went 1-for-3 with runners in scoring position and left four runners on base.
The Astros strung together eight hits in the game. The RBI-double by Evan Gattis in the ninth was the only extra-base hit of the game for either side. Gattis also had the only multi-hit day going 2-for-4 at the plate.
Houston left nine men on base and went 1-for-12 with runners in scoring position.
Defense (or lack there of)
Danny Valencia not only had to deal with the anguish of giving up the winning run on error producing throw in the bottom of the 10th inning, he had to deal with the fact it was his second error of the game. He had a fielding error earlier in the contest. Valencia has now committed 13 errors on the season.
Marcus Semien committed his ninth error of the year in the bottom of the sixth inning when he had trouble fielding a ball off the bat of Marwin Gonzalez.
Coco Crisp committed his second error of the season in the bottom of the seventh inning.
The A’s have now committed 57 errors on the season – fourth most in the American League.
Up Next
For most of the A’s the next few days mean some much needed rest and escape from the pressures of a season gone awry. Only Stephen Vogt is heading to San Diego for the All-Star festivities.
For the A’s management and coaching staff, the four days are going to have to be ones of real reflection, honest evaluation and decision making about the future.
On the field, only one goal makes any sense right now and that is getting to .500. Being 13 games under .500 at the All-Star Break creates an incredible uphill climb for the A’s. Getting to .500 will take a Herculean effort and then it may be too late to contend even for a Wild Card spot. But getting to .500 is the only goal that makes sense for A’s on the field right now.
In the front offices, the questions are all about what does the team do between now and the August 1st trade deadline. Oakland has some players that contenders have to be interested in for the stretch run to the postseason. Hitters like Valencia, Davis and Reddick will always be in demand. A veteran utility guy like Jed Lowrie who comes with a decent bat is a desired piece in the postseason. Teams cannot have enough pitching so Rich Hill, Ryan Madson, John Axford, Sean Doolittle (if healthy) and even Sonny Gray may be players being sought after by contending clubs.
What will the A’s want in return? Prospects is what it will be all about. Think Manea, Mengden and there are more players in Triple-A and Double-A from recent trades that are showing true potential to be big league material.
The one thing that is a given for A’s fans in the second half is it will not be boring. It never is.
AP photo: Oakland A’s second baseman Jed Lowrie misses a Houston Astros Luis Valbuena smash for a hit at Minute Maid Field in the second inning of Thursday night’s game
HOUSTON–The Oakland A’s beat the Houston Astros 3-1 Thursday night in Houston. The A’s new ace Rich Hill outshined the Astros Doug Fister in an old-fashioned pitching duel. The Astros scored their only run of the game in the first inning. Leadoff hitter, George Springer, tripled to get things going for Houston. The next hitter, Marwin Gonzalez, grounded out driving in Springer with the ‘Stros first and only run of the game. From that point on, Hill was lights out. Hill pitched six innings, allowed just the one run and three hits. He walked two batters but struck out ten. He threw 103 pitches and since it was just his second start since coming off the DL, A’s manager Bob Melvin turned the game over to the bullpen and did they ever do the job. John Axford set the Astros down in order in the seventh. Ryan Dull pitched a 1-2-3 inning in the eighth and Ryan Madson did the same in the ninth to close out the game for Oakland.
The Astros, as mentioned above, scored first in the very first inning. The A’s came back and scored two runs in the top of the second. Singles by Danny Valencia and Khris Davis was followed by a walk to Steven Vogt to load the bases with no out. Marcus Semien grounded into a 6-4-3 double play. Valencia scored to tie the game, and Davis went to third. Yonder Alonso doubled to left-centerfield to drive in the A’s second run. The score remained at 2-1 until the top of the ninth. Fister went eight innings allowed just two runs and three hits. The Astros brought in lefty Tony Sipp to face the left-handed hitter, Josh Reddick. With the shift on, Reddick hit a rocket up the middle that was fielded by Carlos Correa. Correa straightened up to throw to first but his throw drew the first baseman off the bag, and Reddick was safe. Correa was charged with an error.With two right-handed hitters coming up, Houston brought in former Athletic, Pat Neshek to pitch. Neshek retired Valencia and Davis but walked Vogt and Semien to load the bases. The Astros employed the shift when Alonso came to the plate. The Second baseman, Jose Altuve was stationed in short right, and Correa was near the second base bag. Alonzo hit a blooper that could not be fielded by Neshek and Altuve was too far away to make the play. Reddick scored the insurance run, and Madson closed out the game. A’s win, the A’s win 3-1.
Game Notes- With the win, the A’s are now 2-6 in their last eight games. They play three more games with the Astros before stopping play for the All-Star game. Kendall Graveman, Daniel Mengden, and Sean Manaea will handle the pitching chores for Oakland. Lance McCullers, Collin McHugh and reigning Cy Young winner Dallas Keuchel will pitch for Houston.
Yonder Alonso was the hitting star for Oakland as he had two of the four hits and he drove in two runs. Center fielder, Coco, Crisp was tossed out of the game in the fourth inning. Crisp took a low pitch that was below his knees. The ump called it a strike. Coco was a little miffed. The next pitch was also low. Coco swung and missed as he thought he would be called out on strikes if he took the pitch. As he was heading back to the dugout, Coco tossed the bat, and it nearly hit the umpire. He also threw his helmet to the ground. He was thumbed out immediately. Bob Melvin never got a chance to intercept Coco. Billy Burns replace Coco in center.
Rich Hill is now 9-3 for the year, and the A’s improve to 37-49. The Astros’ Doug Fister falls tp 8-6 and they are now 46-40 for 2016. Ryan Madson picked up his seventeenth save. Game Two of the Series will be Friday night at Minute Maid Park in Houston at 5:10 pm PT.
Time of game was two hours and thirty-two minutes and 20,933 Houstonian were on hnd to watch the A’s win.
AP photo: Oakland A’s pitcher Ryan Madson throwing against the Minnesota Twins in the ninth inning on Wednesday at the Oakland Coliseum
HOUSTON–The A’s embark on an eight-game, ten-day road trip beginning Friday night in Houston. The A’s and the Astros will be battling it remain in third place in the AL West. The A’s, Astros and Angels are all under .500 and want to avoid being in the basement. The A’s have won five straight after a terrific performance by Sean Manaea on Wednesday afternoon against the Minnesota Twins in Oakland. The Astros were also on a five-game winning streak but lost to the Arizona D-Backs Thursday afternoon 3-0 to fall 1/2 game back of the A’s. The A’s are 25-29, and the Astros own a record of 25-30.
The A’s pitchers for the series will be Jesse Hahn, Rich Hill, and Kendall Graveman. Hahn pitched well his last time out and won his second game of the year. Lefty Rich Hill, the ace of the staff right now, is 8-3 and will be able to pitch on Saturday. Hill suffered a mild groin strain in his last start, but he has recovered. Kendall Graveman also won his last game and pitched well. He has a record of 2-6 and hopes to continue his progress.
The Astros did not start the season well. In April, their record was 7-17. They turned it around in May as they went 17-12. They are 1-1 in June. The turnaround occurred when manager A.J.Hinch moved right-fielder George Springer into the leadoff spot and moved All-Star second baseman Jose Altuve into the number two spot in the lineup. The Astros starting rotation feature the reigning Cy Young award winner, Dallas Keuchel, Doug Fister, Lance McCullers, Mike Fiers and Collin McHugh. Keuchel’s record is 3-6, and he has an ERA of 5.58. Keuchel hopes to turn things around, but the A’s will not have to face him this weekend. Doug Fister (4-3,3.86) will pitch Friday night. Fister beat the A’s on May first when the Astros visited Oakland. Lance McCullers (2-1,4.79) and Collin McHugh (5-5,4.82) will go for Houston on Saturday and Sunday.
The Astros have a good bullpen. Tony Sipp, Will Harris, Michael Feliz, Scott Feldman, Ken Giles and Pat Neshek do most of the relief work. Giles, obtained in a trade with the Phillies, has been a disappointment so far. Giles has appeared in 26 games and has a record of 0-2 and an ERA of 6.04. Their closer is former Athletic, Luke Gregerson. Gregerson has recorded thirteen saves but has also blown four.
The Astros have an explosive offense. They are led by shortstop Carlos Correa, Jose Altuve, George Springer, catcher Evan Gattis, Marwin Gonzalez and Colby Rasmus. Springer is hitting .290 and has thirteen homers, and thirty-four RBIs to his Credit Altuve is hitting .330 with nine dingers and 31 RBIs. Altuve most certainly will be an All-Star again this year.
The A’s, as mentioned earlier, have won five in a row. The starting rotation has been much better lately. The A’s need Graveman, Hahn, Manaea to continue to pitch at least six innings. Hill has been a standout and is the only A’s pitcher to pitch into the eighth inning. Sonny Gray and Henderson Alvarez are still on the DL, but both should be back soon.The A’s used Eric Surkamp as a starter against Minnesota Tuesday night, but he went just four and 2/3rds innings and may make another start before a return trip to Nashville.
It should be pretty evenly matched series. The A’s and the Astros are getting better pitching from the starting rotations. The bullpens are good for both teams, and the hitters on both squads are getting timely hits.
Game one will be at Minute Maid Park Friday night at 5:05 PM.
The Oakland A’s had their hitting shoes on Monday night to start the road show with a win bu beating the young and improved Houston Astros 8-1. The A’s evened their record tp 4-4 for 2015 and were coming off two hard to take extra innings losses to the Seattle Mariners on Saturday and Sunday. The A’s starter, Scott Kazmir, pitched six strong innings allowing just three hits and one run as his record went to 2-0. The Astro’s pitcher, Scott Feldman went five innings giving up 8 hits and seven runs. Feldman is 0-2 to start the year.
The A’s got going right off the bat. Sam Fuld reached on an error leading off the game. Fuld scored on a double off the bat of big Mark Canha. Canha has hit safely in all six games he has started for the A’s. Canha made it to third on an error and scored on a Ben Zobrist double. Ike Davis singled to put the A’s up 3-0
in the top of the first.
The A’s made it 4-0 in the second. Brett Lawrie hit his first home run as an Athletic leading off. Houston made it a 4-1 game when their All-World second baseman, Jose Altuve, put one in the seats to cut the lead to three.
The A’s put the game out of reach in the fifth when they scored four times to make it 8-1. Marcus Semien hits his first home run of the year and Designated hitter Billy Butler hit a three-run dinger to extend the lead. It was Butler’s first as an A and Butler has an eight-game hitting streak to start the year.
There was no more scoring and the A’s win 8-1.
Game notes- Ben Zobrist was 3 for 5 while Mark Canha went 2 for 5, Lawrie, Semien and Butler all hit their first home run as a member of the A’s.
The Line score for Oakland 8 runs, 12 hits and no errors. Houston’s line was 1 run on 5 hits and they committed 2 errors.
Game two of the three-game series continues Tuesday night in Houston at 5:10pm
Kendall Graveman will make his second start for Oakland and he will be opposed by Houston’s Brad Peacock.
OAKLAND, CA —Sports Radio Service caught up with Northern California product Max Stassi during the Astros series in Oakland
Stassi, 23, is a graduate of Yuba City High School and was called up to the Astros earlier this week. Stassi was drafted by the A’s in the 4th round in 2009 and was traded to the Astros along with Chris Carter and Brad Peacock for Jed Lowrie.
Max just completed his first full season in Triple A with Oklahoma City. “It was great, I learned a lot.” Said Stassi. “It was a great experience, and I’m looking forward to advancing from there .”, Stassi added.
Stassi is no doubt highly touted by the Astros. He is ranked by MLB.com as the Astros top catching prospect, and ranked as the Astros 19th overall prospect.
Stassi batted .247 with 9 homers, 20 doubles and 45 RBIs with Oklahoma City.
Not a bad season overall and he was selected to the Triple A All-Star team. “It was something I’ll remember for the rest of my life.”, said Stassi, about the opportunity to play in the game in Durham, North Carolina. “ I got to see my old buddy Andrew Susac, who also made the team, it was fun.”, said Stassi. (Susac is currently on the Giants Roster)
Life on the Road in the minors can be long. “Basically I say goodbye to my family in February”, Stassi said. Max discussed the rare opportunities playing games near his home, both in Sacramento and in Oakland. “It’s something special, you don’t take it for granted playing close to home, it was really cool coming back home, almost kind of surreal.”
Stassi continues to stay connected to his hometown and for the past 6 years he hosts an annual charity event in Yuba City called Homers for the Homeless. “Its A home-run derby of sorts”, says Stassi. The event has raised nearly $100,000 since it started.
The Houston Astros rallied to score three runs in the bottom of the 8th inning to defeat the Oakland A’s 4-2 Tuesday night in Houston. The A’s sent Jason Hammel to pitch for the Green and Gold. Hammel
has a 1-5 record and an ERA of 6.75 since coming to the A’s on July 1st. Hammel had two good outings but has not pitched well and was bombed in his last outing. The A’s allowed him to skip a start and he was well rested and he pitched extremely well for seven innings. Without question it was his best outing as he allowed just three hits and the only run allowed was a Dexter Fowler blast to right field in the fourth inning. He threw just 93 pitches and 60 were strikes. He was opposed by Astro lefty Dallas Keuchel who also pitched very well. Keuchel went seven innings allowing just five hits and two runs, one of which was unearned. The A’s were shocked when Luke Gregerson blew the save and took the loss.
The A’s took an early 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning. Coco Crisp drew a walk to start the inning
Craig Gentry laid down a push bunt that Houston starter, Dallas Keuchel, couldn’t handle. Keuchel was charged with an error but it was a very difficult play and it could have been ruled a hit. Josh Donaldson and Derek Norris hit into ground outs but Jonny Gomes, who hits left-handed pitchers very well, singled to drive in Gentry with the first run of the game for the A’s.
The Astros threatened in the bottom of the third. Hammel hit Gregorio Petit with a pitch. With one out, Jose Altuve hit a double that went into the stands sending Petit to third but had it not gone into the stands Petit would have scored. Former Athletic Chris Carter, who has 31 home runs so far this year, hit a line shot to left field that Jonny Gomes made a great play robbing Carter of at least a double and saving two runners from scoring.
The A’s scored another run in the top of the fourth. With one out, Jonny Gomes singled and then scored on a double to left off the bat of Nate Freiman. Freiman took third on the throw home but the A’s could not bring him home. The A’s and Jason Hammel were hoping for a shut down inning. The Astros’ Dexter Fowler had other thoughts as he blasted a home run to lead off the Astros half of the fourth.
The score stands at 2-1 after four.
The Astros took the lead in the bottom of the eighth inning. Luke Gregerson was is relief of Jason Hammel who went seven innings and allowed just one and really pitched well. With one out, Robbie Grossman reached on an error. Gregerson hit Jose Altuve with a pitch to put men on at first and second.
Chris Carter then blasted a monster home run to left field to put the Astros in the lead 4-2 at the end of eight innings. Chad Qualls pitched the ninth and shut the door on the A’s and Qualls picked up his fifteenth save of the year for the Astros.
Notes- With the loss the A’s drop ½ game behind the Los Angeles Angels. The Angels had a 7-0 lead in their game against Miami and should they win the game the A’s will be a full game behind the Angels.
Geovany Soto, acquired in a trade with the Texas Rangers, started in his first game as an A and had a hit.
The A’s conclude the three game set with Houston Wednesday then head to Los Angeles for a huge four game series with the Angels. Lefty Drew Pomeranz will go for the A’s and he will be opposed by the Astro’s Brad Peacock.
Sports Radio Service 