Athletics beat Astros for third straight time, positioned for series sweep
OAKLAND — A’s manager Bob Melvin said beating the two-time American League champion Houston Astros on Thursday and Friday was “good for our psyche.”
The A’s trekked into new territory with their 8-4 victory in front of 21,428 fans on Saturday. After losing nine of their first 11 meetings with the Astros this season, they knocked them off for the third straight time and for the first time this year by more than a single run.
Right-hander Chris Bassitt (9-5) battled through an imperfect six innings, throwing a career-high 116 pitches while giving some much-needed rest to the A’s bullpen. Oakland relievers compiled seven innings scoreless innings in Friday night’s 13-inning victory.
And the A’s, who entered the day with the sixth-most home runs (195) in the majors, did their damage against the Astros with 13 hits — none of them long balls.
Houston touched Bassitt for two runs in the third inning, but it could have been much worse. Back-to-back singles by Jose Altuve and Michael Brantley set up an RBI double to center by Alex Bregman.
Yordan Alvarez drove in a second run with a sacrifice fly to left.
Carlos Correa walked and, with two outs, Martin Maldonado lofted a high and deep fly ball toward the left field foul pole. The ball left the yard but was ruled foul, a decision that was confirmed after a crew chief review by Mark Carlson, averting what could have been a three-run homer and a 5-0 lead. Bassett went on to strike out Maldonado on a 67-mph curveball.
The A’s got it all back, and then some, in the bottom of the third. They strung together six singles and a walk to score five times off starter Astros Rogelio Armenteros before Houston recorded an out. Mark Canha’s two-run single made it 5-2, but he was cut down trying to take second base after the relay through to the catcher.
Well, that escalated……slowly?#RootedInOakland pic.twitter.com/2gQdQV2Aig
— Oakland A's (@Athletics) August 17, 2019
Alvarez homered twice for the Astros — a 429-foot blast to right off Bassitt in the fifth and a 418-foot shot to dead center off Ryan Buchter leading off the eighth, giving him 19 homers on the season.
But the A’s gave Bassitt some breathing room by scoring three times in the bottom of the fifth, getting RBI singles from Matt Olson and Canha and a sacrifice fly from Stephen Piscotty.
Singles Only Day at The Coliseum
#RootedInOakland pic.twitter.com/A7A1F97WAU
— Oakland A's (@Athletics) August 17, 2019
The A’s (71-52) have cut their margin behind the AL West-leading Astros from 9 1/2 to 6 1/2 games, and are 19 games over .500 for the first time this season.
The big picture is still more important than the standings at this point in the schedule, Melvin said before the game.
“We’re just trying to win as many games as we can at this point. I don’t think we’re schedule watchers yet. There’s a lot of baseball to be played,” he said.
“But it’s a team that has had their way with us and to be able to win a couple games at home against them is good for our psyche.”
Oakland will send Brett Anderson (10-8) against Zach Grienke (2-0) on Sunday afternoon when it goes after a four-game sweep.