Yordan Álvarez had a big day after last night’s thirteen-inning loss, but a lot of stranded baserunners by the lineup and inning-long melt-downs by Rogelio Armenteros and Chris Devenski sunk the Astros’ chances at a bounceback win. Final score: Oakland 8, Houston 4.
Things looked like they were off to a promising start against Chris Bassitt. as George Springer and Michael Brantley both singled and Alex Bregman walked, giving the Astros a bases loaded, one out situation in the first. But an overeager Yordan strikeout and a Carlos Correa fly out ended things at just a scoreless, 30-pitch first inning.
From there, things were quiet from both sides until the third inning. In the top half, Houston struck first, with Jose Altuve starting things with a single and Brantley following him with his second single of the game, giving him his 50th multi-hit game on the season and tying him for most in the majors. Bregman doubled to bring in Altuve, then Yordan followed that up with a sac fly to make it 2-0. Correa walked to keep things going, but he and Bregman were stranded.
Driving the bus #TakeItBack pic.twitter.com/ZRCUSydSeB
— Houston Astros (@astros) August 17, 2019
The A’s immediately struck back, and unfortunately, in a big way. Starter Rogelio Armenteros made it through the first two innings with only minor incident, but things fell apart rapidly in the third. Oakland started things off with four straight singles, Matt Chapman picked up an RBI walk, then the next three hitters returned to the single parade. After throwing out Mark Canha trying to advance to second, the Astros were able to get two more quick outs, but it was already 5-2.
After a quiet fourth, it looked like the Astros might be able to start a comeback. Chris Bassitt was still in and seeing his pitch count rise. Yordan was able to take advantage of the situation, launching his eighteenth homer in the season into the second deck and pulling Houston back to within 2.
Grown man kind of pop.#TakeItBack pic.twitter.com/JdWtSnHgRI
— Houston Astros (@astros) August 17, 2019
Unfortunately, no one else followed his lead, and in the bottom half of the inning, Oakland managed a small reprise of the third inning against new pitcher Chris Devenski. After a leadoff walk and hit batter, the A’s put together two singles and a sacrifice fly to make it an 8-3 game.
The Astros would start the sixth, seventh, and eighth innings with leadoff hits, but the only one who wasn’t stranded was Álvarez, who hit drove himself in on a home run to center field. Through his first 52 games, Yordan now has nineteen home runs, three multi-homer games, and 55 RBI. On the pitching side of things, Collin McHugh contributed two scoreless innings and Joe Smith added a third, but it didn’t make much of a difference as the offense couldn’t make things happen against Bassitt (who made the longest start of his career, at 116 pitchers), Blake Treinen, Ryan Buchter, and Yusmeiro Petit.
Can’t spell Yordan without ROY. #TakeItBack pic.twitter.com/GUG3gdxHz1
— Houston Astros (@astros) August 17, 2019
The loss marks the Astros’ fifth in a row, and drops them to 78-46 on the year. They still lead the A’s in the AL West by 6.5 games, but the Yankees are starting to run away with the best record in the American League. They’ll try and salvage the fourth game of this series tomorrow at 3:07 PM CDT behind Zack Greinke, facing off against Oakland starter Brett Anderson. After that, they’ll be returning home for a series against the Tigers.