A’s drop first game in Houston 9-2

Ross Stripling does his job but the bats and defense fail to hold up their end of the bargain

The Houston Astros have struggled mightily in 2024 as a pitching unit, but thankfully today they played the A’s who don’t quite hit consistently. Ross Stripling turned in one of his better outings of the 2024 season thus far and gave the A’s a competitive chance to win but unfortunately for him, his offense couldn’t reciprocate the effort despite only being outhit 10-9.

While the 9-2 score may not reflect it, the A’s were in Mondays game for the first 7.5 innings in spite of timely negatives like a few errors and a pair of caught steals. A four-run ‘Stros explosion in the eighth, however, would put the nail in the coffin as the A’s have now lost four of their last five.

The Astros drew first blood tonight in the second inning after a horrendous Tyler Soderstrom throwing error allowed Jeremy Pena to score from first on a simple groundout. They’d then add a second run in the third thanks to a Jose Altuve plunk and Kyler Tucker RBI double.

Righty prospect Spencer Arrighetti got the starting nod for Houston and looked good through the first time around the A’s order. In the fourth, however, Brent Rooker doubled and Tyler Soderstrom made up for himself with an RBI single to cut the lead in half, 2-1. With two hits today, Soderstrom is now hitting .375 at this plate since his call-up.

Alex Bregman responded with his second home run of the season, a solo shot, in the bottom half to put the Astros back up two, but the A’s would respond retaliate immediately themselves. A two-out Abraham Toro walk bite Arrighetti immediately as the next batter, JJ Bleday, crushed an RBI double off the left center fence to again cut the lead in half at 3-2.

After a nightmare last start where Stripling couldn’t get out of the second, credit him for bouncing back with one of his better starts of the season. He threw five innings allowing the three runs, just two earned, and four hits. His fine day suspiciously ended at just 52 pitches and not much would go right afterwards.

With all the injuries surrounding Stripling it’s safe to say the A’s are locked into him as a starter for at least the medium run.

T.J. McFarland dodged a lead-off Yordan Alvarez single with a double play to log a scoreless sixth in relief. The A’s turned three double plays Monday night but couldn’t turn that momentum into much.

In the seventh, the A’s found life with a one-out walk and Mark Kotsay would immediately pinch run his best speedster, Esteury Ruiz. Perhaps the plan was a little too obvious as Victor Caratini hosed Ruiz at second trying to swipe the bag — Caratini’s second timely caught stealing of the game. The next batter, Abraham Toro, struck out to end the threat empty handed.

Mitch Spence took over for McFarland in the bottom half and Bregman immediately greeted him with a second solo bomb on the afternoon. Jake Meyers reignited the rally two outs later with a walk, and he moved all the way up to third on his steal attempt thanks to a Shea Langeliers throwing error. Altuve then singled to center to put the Astros up 5-2.

Spence’s day lasted just two outs when Easton Lucas replaced him to escape the threat without any further damage. It’s the first time all season Spence has failed to get through his first inning of work.

The A’s had a serious chance to cut into the three-run deficit in the eighth with runners at second in third after a Rooker single and Soderstrom double. The threat went no where as Seth Brown struck out. The A’s left eight on base and struck out 12 times Monday.

The Astros would load the bases with no one out in the eighth thanks to the A’s third error of the day, this one on Max Schuemann. Bregman and Caratini provided the two knockout blows of the evening with pair of two-run doubles to grow the lead to 9-2. Bregman’s 3-3 day with four RBIs could’ve singlehandedly defeated the A’s itself.

While Stripling was objectively removed early into his outing, Kotsay left Lucas to rot for the entirety of the disastrous eighth in an inning that turned from a manageable three deficit to a call-it-quits six run mountain. It was another instance of questionable decision-making from the A’s skipper to say the least unless there’s something we’re all missing.

With the loss, the A’s lead on the Astros inches from 3.5 games to 2. Both teams will line it up again tomorrow at the same 5:10 first pitch time with JP Sears squaring off against Ronel Blanco who’s 4-0 and through a no-hitter in early April.