Athletics 3, Astros 2: Comeback comes up short for Astros

The Houston Astros cheated the baseball gods on Friday with a walk-off home run after giving up five runs in the top of the ninth inning. The Astro almost stole another victory from the Oakland Athletics on Saturday with two runs late in a 3-2 loss.

Kendall Graveman dominated the Astros from start to almost finish, pitching into ninth inning for the first time in his career. Graveman was perfect through 4 2/3 innings. The Astros first hit came from A.J. Reed, a single to right field.

The Astros only good offensive opportunity before the ninth inning came in the sixth inning with a double from Marwin Gonzalez with two outs. But Jose Altuve ended the inning with a ground out to shortstop.

Houston starting pitcher Lance McCullers struggled all day his pitch location. The A's were first on the board with a Stephen Vogt home run in the second. The A's loaded the bases after the Vogt home run, but McCullers struck out Tyler Ladendorf and Coco Crisp to end the inning.

Oakland added two more run in the third inning. Josh Reddick singled and moved to second a balk. Vogt singled to center to score Reddick. The three walks to Billy Butler, Yonder Alonso, and Marcus Semien to force home a run.

Oakland led 3-0 after three innings. Vogt picked up his second extra base in the fifth inning with a double against Tony Sipp -- but Sipp worked around the traffic. Josh Reddick hit a triple in the sixth but was stranded at third.

The Astros finally broke through against Graveman at the start of the ninth. Jake Marisnick and Marwin Gonzalez opened the inning with a pair of singles.

A grounded out by Altuve scored Marisnick but forced Gonzalez at second. Luis Valbuena singled home Altuve to make the score 3-2. The game ended with a strikeout to Carlos Gomez.