You didn't actually think the Astros were going to pull off the sweep did you? Okay, even I got my hopes up of winning three in a row in Oakland.
But Nate Freiman had to ruin all the fun. The 26-year old first baseman went 4-for-4 with a home run, a double and two singles while knocking in four of the five runs for the A's. Oh, and all three of his home runs this year have come against the Astros as well.
Speaking of former Astros, Jed Lowrie got the party started for Oakland in the first against Houston's Erik Bedard with an RBI double into the gap in right-center field to score Chris Young who had been called out ruled safe on a ground ball to Jonathan Villar one batter earlier.
Three batters later it was 3-0, as Freiman barely got his low liner to stay inside the right field line - good for a two-run double.
Freiman was out for more Astros blood in the third inning as he laced a line drive home run over the left field fence to make it 5-0. It looked like it could be another home run robbery by Robbie Grossman as he came close to getting his glove on the Freiman two-run shot, but it sailed onto the concrete stairs outside the wall at the O.co Coliseum.
Bedard did not finish the fifth inning, and finished with a line of 4.2 innings, seven hits, five runs (all earned) to go with four walks and four strikeouts. Lucas Harrell came on and actually threw very well, allowing only two hits in 3.1 innings of scoreless baseball. All that despite not only pitching last night, but also reportedly feeling pretty bad this morning.
Lucas Harrell, who had some kind of stomach bug and looked terrible this morning, is relieving Bedard in the 5th
— Brian McTaggart (@brianmctaggart) August 15, 2013
Not the usual quality start for Bedard that the Astros have come accustomed to lately, but a good performance probably wouldn't have mattered with the minuscule amount of offense the Astros produced on Thursday.
Sonny Gray was dealing in his second big league start, allowing only four hits over eight innings while striking out nine Astros' batters.
Robbie Grossman had two singles, while Villar doubled and Carlos Corporan also collected a single against the rookie righty out of Vanderbilt. Marc Krauss added his third double of the year in the ninth inning.
Still, the Astros get their first series win since mid-June, and now will travel to Anaheim to take on the Angels this weekend.