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The Oakland Athletics topped the Astros, 8-5 on Saturday night.
Sean Murphy got the A’s on top early, with a first-inning RBI-single. The Astros took the lead right back from them with three home runs in the bottom of the inning to make it 4-1. Aledmys Diaz (12), Kyle Tucker (28), and Trey Mancini (18) all went deep for a three-run Houston lead.
Stay hot. pic.twitter.com/W3ztFFWYPE
— Houston Astros (@astros) September 17, 2022
Back. pic.twitter.com/CjgvwbMaC5
— Houston Astros (@astros) September 17, 2022
To back. pic.twitter.com/6LTZ4KpVUB
— Houston Astros (@astros) September 17, 2022
Oakland spent the rest of the game chipping away at Houston’s pitching. Vimael Machin notched a third-inning sacrifice fly, Chad Pinder smacked a fourth-inning solo homer to right, and Seth Brown hit a three-run shot in the fifth with the eventual game-winner for a 6-4 Oakland lead.
Brown added an RBI-double in the seventh before Yordan Alvarez (37) hit a solo home run in the eighth to cut into the Oakland lead. Machin added an RBI-single in the ninth for the final 8-5 A’s winning margin.
Yordan gets one back. pic.twitter.com/kAPDXGne0J
— Houston Astros (@astros) September 18, 2022
- Jose Urquidy lasted six innings, and failed to lock down a Quality Start for the second time in his last three appearances. He gave up six runs on seven hits and a pair of walks, striking out six and getting 64-of-93 over the plate. He’s now 13-7 with a 3.96 ERA.
- Alex Bregman, Christian Vázquez, and Mancini notched multiple hits in the loss.
- After topping out at a mid-season high of 1.110, Alvarez’ OPS has been steadily dropping ever since. That is, at least until the past few games. From a season-low .974 on September 7, he’s back up to a mark of 1.035.
- Jose Altuve and David Hensley were the only Houston players to go hitless in the contest.
- Hector Neris pitched a perfect eighth, and collected one strikeout.
Even with the loss, the Astros magic number sits at three for a division title and nine for HFA. As it stands, they’re already the only American League team with a postseason clinch.
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