Winning Streak Busted: Athletics Defeat Astros

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.

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.

• 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.