Oakland’s relievers had a combined ERA of 4.37 ERA in 451 innings before Saturday.
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“Just being in spring training with them was awesome, ” Zito said.
“He’s a strong guy”, Rodriguez said.
“We’ve picked a rough time to have a stretch where it’s been rocky”, he said. “To have this happen is tough”.
His first home run Friday came in the fourth inning after Josh Reddick had led off with a home run. “It is getting better, and we’re testing it every day”. “He’s pitched well for us this year and deserves to be here”.
Jake Smolinski and Marcus Semien each hit a solo homer for the A’s. Keuchel was hammered for nine runs on eleven hits including three bombs of a 14-3 loss at Texas. “It’s a bonus. I didn’t expect it. That’s an understatement”. The Rangers gave back a game to the Astros over the weekend, leaving them a 1 1/2-game lead over their Texan rivals and a four-game cushion over the Angels in third (and the same distance between them and the Twins).
An RBI single by Lowrie gave Houston a 1-0 lead in the first.
McHugh settled in for the long haul, quieting an A’s offense that had tagged Houston for 31 runs in their previous five matchups.
The last time the Astros managed to win consecutive games came on August . 25 and 26 in New York that is until today! The A’s might not be headed to October, but they do have two more weeks of the season left, and they will need to make a decision as to what risks they’re willing to take with Gray’s arm during the final starts of the season. Astros 3, Athletics 0. Lowrie singled to center, Altuve scored.
Houston Astros’ Matt Duffy heads up the first base line as he…
Springer lined a 2-2 slider from Athletics right-hander Aaron Brooks into the Crawford Boxes in left field with two outs, scoring catcher Max Stassi and lifting the Astros (79-71) to a critical series win.
The big story in baseball on Sunday was Kendrys Morales, and if this space were titled “Three Home Runs”, we might spend a thousand words talking about how this much-criticized free-agent signing has been an above-average DH, a key part of the Royals’ big season and a bargain, all at once.
If Danny Valencia could play every game against the Houston Astros, he’d be in the discussion with Jimmie Foxx, Mark McGwire and Rickey Henderson as the greatest Athletics hitter of all time.
Chad Qualls (3-4) pitched a scoreless seventh for the win. Altuve eventually scored on a sacrifice fly, but the game remained manageable for the A’s since they trailed by only three. Reddick’s homer was the first earned run Fiers allowed in 17 1-3 innings at home since being traded to Houston. It was Zito’s first appearance in the majors since playing for the Giants in 2013. The realities of baseball economics was the demise for Oakland’s aces, even though it was during their dominance that Beane was able to experiment in other areas of the roster and bring sabermetrics to the forefront (the book and movie Moneyball touches on these areas in detail). “I’m impressed with how he’s maintained his pace of play and his composure during the hottest of moments”. “Look at it”, he explained. “I’m not going to say he’s going to have (a specific) inning in either an up or down game. That’s an easy answer”.
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Astros: OF Carlos Gomez missed his eighth straight game with discomfort in his ribs.
