MidValleySports.Com

By Joe Torosian

Playing “spoiler” means your season is over, but any opportunity to stick it to the cheating Houston Astros makes this weekend all the more satisfying.

(Astros:L 4-0)
The Athletics lost their fifth game in a row Friday night, in a 4-0 shutout that made the team look like it had given up on the year. Apathy is expected when you’re hovering around 30 games under .500, and the bats for the A’s managed just three hits off of Astros starter Hayden Wesneski.

Drawing five walks helped give the team opportunities to stay in the game, but untimely strikeouts(9) undermined any possible rally opportunities.

Athletics Starter JT Ginn had hoped to stop the skid that began with the 4-game sweep of the A’s by the KC Royals, and he navigated traffic well for the first three innings. Ginn (L 8-8, 3.60) lost his second consecutive start, but pitched out of repeated danger, and the overall start wasn’t bad. He had zero run support and the team wasted a decent outing by Ginn.

The A’s learned in the opener to avoid DH Yordan Alvarez, who had a pair of RBI-doubles Friday, and they did their best to avoid his bat the rest of the series. Alvarez is in the Top 5 in the Triple Crown categories: Average, Home Runs, and RBIs, and is considered one of the hardest “outs” in the majors.

Donovan Walton led the A’s at the plate, reaching three times with a single and two walks.

(Athletics:W 4-3)
Saturday, the Athletics finally found some offense, ending a brutal five-game losing streak and Donovan Walton opened the 3rd-inning with a 422-foot moonshot for an early 1-0 lead.

Athletics starter Jacob Lopez is a changed man since former-pitching coach Scott Emerson was shown the door in mid-July. Lopez went six innings only giving up a Yainer Diaz RBI-double, and left in a 1-1 tie.
Luis Medina (W 5-3, 3.77) relieved Lopez and promptly gave up a Daulton Varsho solo-homer for a Houston 2-1 lead. After a Lamont Wade Jr double, Jeremy Pena’s RBI-single made it 3-1 Astros, before the Athletics came back.

In the 8th-inning, after Jeff McNeil singled and Zack Gelof walked, pinch-hitter Alika Williams’ sac-bunt moved the runners up 90-feet, which rattled pitcher Bennett Souza into a run-scoring wild-pitch.
Lawrence Butler tied it at 3-3 with an RBI-single, and a Jonah Helm groundout scored Butler with the eventual 4-3 winning run.

Tommy White led the A’s at the plate, going 3-for-4 with a double, and McNeil had another two-hit game.

(Athletics: 7-6)
The Athletics dug themselves a 6-0 hole Sunday, but sent 11-men to the plate in a six-run 5th-inning response, and Max Muncy overcame four straight strikeouts to hit the eventual game-winning solo home run.

Athletics starter Brady Basso had runners at-the-corners just five pitches into Sunday’s matchup, and two batters later Jose Altuve made it a 3-0 Houston lead.

Relieved in the second inning, primary pitcher Jack Perkins walked four batters, Alvarez intentionally, and the lead was 4-0 after only two innings. An Isaac Paredes two-run home run in the fourth inning, set up the comeback scenario for the Athletics.

Donovan Walton opened the 5th-inning with a single, and Darryl Hernaiz walked. Backup catcher Brian Serven cut the lead to 6-3 with a 3-run blast and the A’s kept the conveyor belt moving.

Henry Bolte singled and Zack Gelof was hit-by-pitch when Butler hit an RBI-double to close the scoring to 6-4. Tommy White, who had just one career RBI, belted a game-tying two-run single and the A’s were back in the game 6-6.

Perkins (W 3-9, 6.68) went five innings in his “starter/reliever” role, striking out six, while Hogan Harris had a 1-2-3 9th-inning, with two strikeouts, to earn his 13th save on the year.

The Athletics intentionally walked Yordan Alvarez three times, forcing other Astros hitters to beat the A’s, and it just didn’t happen.

Bolte went 3-for-5 with a double, Servan was 2-for-4 with the 3-run homer, and Muncy had the game-winning home run to lead the Athletics bats.

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