The Houston Astros are surging at the right time and seek their ninth win in 11 games when they host the Oakland Athletics on Tuesday for the middle contest of their three-game set.
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Oakland Athletics starting pitcher Chris Smith (56) looks away as Houston Astros’ Jose Altuve, right, rounds the bases after hitting a solo home run in the sixth inning of a baseball game, Monday, Aug. 29, 2016, in Houston. Manaea fielded a comebacker from Yulieski Gurriel to start the fourth, then threw one pitch to Marwin Gonzalez before manager Bob Melvin and the trainer headed to the mound.
Graveman is 3-1 with a 4.60 ERA in his career against Houston, including back-to-back starts in July where he allowed four earned runs in 15 innings in two wins.
Manaea said he first felt his back stiffen up on him in the second, although catcher Stephen Vogt said he didn’t notice a drop in the lefty’s velocity until the third.
“Just frustrating from where I’m at”, Manaea said. “That next inning just throwing my warm-up pitches I couldn’t really warm-up”. Manaea isn’t likely to wind up on the disabled list, his injury being diagnosed as a right rhomboid strain.
Now the A’s may be looking for a body for what would be Manaea’s next scheduled start Sunday in the Coliseum against the Red Sox. With Sean Manaea set to face Joe Musgrove in the pitching matchup, the over/under now sits at 8.5 runs for tonight’s game. “Already been on the DL once and to me it just feels like I’m letting everyone down. I hate being hurt and being taken out early, especially in a close game”. “It is what it is, I just have to make sure going forward I get everything done and try not to have this problem again”. There was nothing Manaea could say to force the powers that be to let him continue to pitch. Musgrove pitched around two runners in the fourth inning and ran into significant trouble in the fifth, loading the bases with one out before rallying with a pair of critical strikeouts.
Manaea followed by issuing back-to-back, bases-loaded walks to Marisnick and Springer before rallying to strike out Bregman to cap the second inning.
Marcus Semien had two of Oakland’s hits. The over is also 8-0 in Houston’s last eight games after allowing five runs or more in its previous game and is 3-0-1 in Manaea’s last four outings after the A’s scored five runs or more in their previous game.
With the victory, and a 5-1 loss by the Orioles to the Blue Jays, the Astros are two games behind Baltimore for the second wild card spot in the American League.
Alex Bregman, playing as the Astros designated hitter Monday, drove in a pair of runs in the Astros half of the seventh to extend the lead to 5-0.
Athletics: INF Billy Butler was reinstated from the seven-day concussion list. To make room on the roster, INF Arismendy Alcantara was optioned to Class A Stockton.
Jesse Hahn, on a rehab assignment with right shoulder strain, is due to start Wednesday for Stockton, after which he’s expected to be cleared to return to the rotation. With starters Sonny Gray (strained right forearm) and Jesse Hahn (strained right shoulder) now on the DL, the Athletics have been forced to fill the void with relievers making spot starts.
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The second game of this three game series kicks off tomorrow, Tuesday August 30th at 6:10 PM Central. He’s 4-0 with a 1.18 ERA and.219 opponents’ batting average in eight starts for the Sounds since being promoted from Double-A.
