OAKLAND – Athletics can feel the Houston Astros breathe down their necks, and it could be for a long time.
And after the A fell 8: 1 in front of 3,925 spectators in the Colosseum on Tuesday evening, it could soon be the other way around.
With Zack Greinke, who kept the A’s bats at bay, Houston (25-18) climbed within half a game of athletics (26-18) in the American League West, with the two teams on Wednesday a three- Games series and a mini homestand ended.
Houston, which opened the season with a four-game game in Oakland, has a 6-3 advantage in the series.
Greinke (4: 1) gave up four hits and one run in eight innings, which is his longest outing of the season. He went for a walk with no one and hit eight – twice as many as his high water mark in 2021. Greinke rarely threw 89 parking spaces into trouble, 63 of them strikes. Kent Emanuel threw the ninth inning for Houston.
At the age of 37, Greinke is a pitching savant at this point. He rarely breaks more than 90 mph, but had a little extra against the A to keep up with the usual array of split-change ups, sliders, and cornering balls, almost always on the corners.
OAKLAND, CA – MAY 19: Oakland Athletics has left outfield player Chad Pinder # 4 and fails to Houston Astros’ Yuli Gurriel # 10, the two-time RBI double relief pitcher Deolis Guerra # 65, in the seventh inning of their MLB game at the Coliseum , arrived in Oakland, Calif. on Wednesday, May 19, 2021. (Jane Tyska / Bay Area News Group) « His fastball was up to 93 today, » said left fielder Chad Pinder. “It was crispy. When he localizes it like that, it’s a difficult task. We have to do a better job of lining up some better bats and getting better into the pitch count when he has stuff like that. We couldn’t get anything going. He played a great game. »
With 5-1 against the A for the Astros and 10-3 in his career, A manager Bob Melvin tried to stack the line-up with other right-handers than Jed Lowrie and Matt Olson. It did not work.
« He’s just really unpredictable, » said Melvin. « He doesn’t walk, he doesn’t put anyone on the base. He stays away from the bat and went on strike today. His split-change goes straight down, looks like his fastball. He mixed his curve and his slider and threw a really good game against us. ”
Frankie Montas (5-3) was the loser for the A, threw way too many pitches, but managed to keep his team in the game for five innings.
OAKLAND, CA – MAY 19: Michael Brantley # 23 of Houston Astros scores a double from first baseman Yuli Gurriel # 10 to Oakland Athletics catcher Sean Murphy # 12 in the eighth inning of their MLB game at the Coliseum in Oakland, California. on Wednesday, May 19, 2021. (Jane Tyska / Bay Area News Group)
Jose Altuve hit the first place of the game in the left field and stands for a home run, his fifth of the season.
The Astros took on a one-on-one rally against Reliever Deolis Guerra in the seventh game, thanks to a brace from Yuli Gurriel and a single from Carlos Correa with a 5-1 win.
A runscoring single by Myles Straw and a two-run double by Gurriel against Adam Kolarek made it 8-1 in the eighth, which cleared all doubts.
Guerra was one away from his second scoreless inning when he went to Alex Bregman, followed by Yordan Alvarez with a single to the right.
Then, in an eight-pitch stroke, Gurriel tossed a double over the outstretched glove of a jumping pinder against the fence on the left, bringing Bregman and Alvarez home. Correa then greeted reliever Sergio Romo with a single goal down the right center and scored Gurriel.
Houston pitcher Zack Grienke dominated the A and gave up a run with four hits in eight innings. Jane Tyska / Bay Area News Group
“I thought I had a pearl on it. I don’t know how close I was, « said Pinder. » Certain situations where you played this off the wall, but I knew where the runners were going, was more important and I came up a little short. »
Montas left after five innings, victim of a bloated pitch count, and only gave up the first two inning runs. He gave up six hits, went two, and hit six, and considering he had 73 innings through three innings, making it through five was an achievement.
The best two innings for Montas were the fourth and fifth, where he had just one stroke past the minimum and had his best command over the night.
« To give us five innings and only two runs after it looked like the first two innings were going to be pretty tricky, I thought he reacted pretty well, » said Melvin.
The only run of the A against Grienke came from Sean Murphy with a brace in the left corner of the field. It drove into Pinder, who was singing to the right with two.
A double by Sean Murphy in the left corner of the field halved the A’s deficit against Greinke. Murphy’s hit brought home Pinder, who brought a single with two outs to the right.
The A’s fell 2-0 in the first inning of Altuve’s first pitch home run to the left field seats for the second straight night, and Correa flickered right to score a single with runs scoring.
On the subject of matching items
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Oakland A’s will be visiting Las Vegas next week to hear the move
OAKLAND, CA – MAY 19: Oakland Athletics starting pitcher Frankie Montas # 47 leaves the hill as Houston Astros’ Jose Altuve # 27 laps the bases after doing a solo home run in the first inning of his MLB game at the Oakland Coliseum has completed. California, Wednesday, May 19, 2021. (Jane Tyska / Bay Area News Group)
– Murphy left the game in the fourth inning after committing a third foul on the helmet – the last one on his shoulder as well and hurt his ear. Melvin said Murphy had no concussion and could be on the lineup on Wednesday.
– Mark Canha scored a 17-17 series against Greinke with a sixth inning single. He moved to second place due to an outfield error but was stranded there when Jed Lowrie was on the lookout and Ramon Laureano ended up in third place.
– Luis Barrera made his big debut in the ninth inning, took two nice runs in midfield and struck.
OAKLAND, CA – MAY 19: Mark Canha # 20 of Oakland Athletics hits a pitch from Houston Astros relief pitcher Kent Emanuel # 0 in the ninth inning of their MLB game at the Coliseum in Oakland, Calif. On Wednesday, May 19, 2021. ( Jane Tyska / Bay Area News Group)
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