Astros 7, Athletics 2: The beard continues to roll; Houston offense blows up

Dallas Keuchel and Kendall Graveman battled toe-to-toe for five innings. Both pitchers gave up a solo home run and battle with traffic on the bases.

But the Astros offense finally broke through against the Athletics bullpen to lift Houston to a 7-2 win on Friday night.

For the third straight game, the Astros collected 10-plus hits and Jose Altuve reached base for the 10th time in a row.

Graveman exited after the fifth inning and the Astros would jump on Ryan Madson. Brain McCann, Marwin Gonzalez, and Norichika Aoki collected singles to put Houston in front 2-1.

Doubles from Jose Altuve and McCann in tandem with a throwing error plated three runs for the Astros.

The Astros added two more runs in the ninth after a leadoff walk to Altuve, the second error with Correa running to run (scoring Altuve from second), and a sacrifice fly by McCann.

Keuchel cruised along through seven innings. He allowed one run on four hits while striking out seven and walking two.