The Astros got a run off reliever Ryan Dull in the eighth when Carlos Correa’s RBI double ended Dull’s streak of 11.1 scoreless innings, but Dull came back to keep the Oakland lead at three runs.
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Houston Astros’ Dallas Keuchel, left, and Evan Gattis speak in the second inning of a baseball game against the Oakland Athletics Tuesday, July 19, 2016, in Oakland, Calif. Gattis didn’t catch a single game last season when he spent time in left field and at DH for the Astros.
OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) – Marcus Semien rounded third base on Josh Reddick’s 10th-inning infield single, and Reddick’s first thought was disbelief. Houston’s Carlos Correa fielded the ball cleanly but threw wide of home as Semien slid safely in with the winning run. “He’s going to do everything he cannot to go on the DL”, A’s manager Bob Melvin said. “There was a lot of fight tonight, for sure”.
The A’s rallied from three runs down and trailed 3-2 before Coco Crisp’s tying double off Astros closer Will Harris in the ninth. He also said he wasn’t arguing balls and strikes, which is subject to an automatic ejection, but trying to protect his player, Yonder Alonso, who had been thrown out for arguing. His throw was off line, and Semien scored the winning run.
“I was wondering why he was going and being sent in the first place”, Reddick admitted. “Good thing for us it worked out to get the win”. Oakland has won three of four games since the All-Star break to improve to 41-52.
Jose Altuve matched his career-high with four hits while George Springer hit his career-high 21st home run for the Astros.
“We got beat by a big inning”, Astros manager A.J. Hinch said. “I need to be more professional about what I’m doing out there on the field and in the game”. Crisp added a two-out single, but Giles stranded runners at the corners to end the inning. Stephen Vogt doubled to left with two outs and moved to third on a wild pitch, and Semien walked and stole second.
Rookie Ryon Healy went 2-for-4 with a two run double for the A’s, and Crisp also had two hits. Crisp broke down into a trot, thinking it had cleared the fence as well, but was tagged out between second and third. Astros 2B Jose Altuve played in his 183rd consecutive game, the longest current streak in the major leagues. Alonso brought them both home with a single to center and scored on Healy’s double to right-center.
The Oakland Athletics look to sweep the Houston Astros early Wednesday afternoon.
Heading into the bottom of the seventh down 3-0, and facing the reigning American League CY Young Award victor Dallas Keuchel (ND, 6-9, 4.70 ERA), the A’s went back into the scrappy mode that has now netted them a 4-1 start to the second half. Nova allowed one run and four hits after struggling through the early portions of the game but gave the Yankees six innings for the first time in six starts. The 23-year-old Texan did not get the results he deserved in June, going 1-3 despite allowing two runs in three of his four starts and three in the other while working at least six innings on three occasions. With a single in the 10th, his fourth hit of the night, he raised his AL-leading batting average to.354.
Athletics: Rich Hill’s status remains in limbo because of a blister issue on the middle finger of his left hand.
Athletics: Dillon Overton (1-1) will be called up from Triple-A Nashville to start against Houston. He hit an 0-1 pitch from Robertson (0-2) into the right-field seats to spoil Sale’s bid to become the first 15-game victor in the majors this season.
Athletics: RHP Daniel Mengden makes his second start against the Astros this season.
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The latter game was Fister’s third consecutive defeat, but he snapped his skid Friday at Seattle, allowing three runs over five innings in a 9-6 victory.
