Kyle McCann hit a two-run home run, Brent Rooker had two hits and two RBIs and the Oakland Athletics defeated the Houston Astros 5-4 on Wednesday night.
The Astros have lost three games in a row and their lead in the AL West has shrunk to 3 1/2 games over Seattle with 17 games remaining.
Houston also lost All-Star second baseman Jose Altuve, who was out after the fifth inning with right foot discomfort. He called out manager Joe Espada and the trainer after going on strike two of his at-bats in the fifth. He completed the at-bat, struck out on a bunt attempt, but did not take the field in the sixth.
Espada said he was “not really worried” about the injury.
“He was being fooled on the field and he felt something,” Espada said. “As a precaution, he decided to hit two strikes to make sure he was OK. Right now, day in and day out.”
Espada and Altuve both said they wanted to wait and see how the second baseman felt Thursday.
“I’m not really worried,” Altuve said. “Maybe tomorrow I’ll just wake up and go, so I don’t want to take any positions tonight because normally with an injury you wait until the next day and see how you feel.”
McCann hit a two-run homer off Hunter Brown (11-8), and Rooker hit an RBI single off Caleb Ferguson as the A’s scored three times to take a 5-3 lead in the sixth. Rooker also had an RBI single as part of a two-run third that tied the game at 2-2.
“These guys are playing with a lot of confidence,” Oakland manager Mark Kotsay said. “They all believe in each other, they pick each other up and come out here and win the first two games of this series if these guys are going to compete to keep this division, it says a lot about the character of that group and the momentum they have.”
The Astros took a 2-0 lead in the second inning on a sacrifice fly by Jake Meyers and an RBI single by Mauricio Dubón. Yordan Alvarez scored on an error by Max Schuemann in the third inning to give the Astros a 3-2 lead.
Kyle Tucker hit an RBI single in the eighth inning to cut the lead to one, but Tyler Ferguson got Ben Gamel to fly out to end the inning.
Oakland’s Joey Estes (7-7) gave up three runs on seven hits in 6 2/3 innings. Mason Miller pitched the ninth for his 24th save.
Lawrence Butler extended his 19-game winning streak with a fifth-inning single.
Brown allowed five runs on nine hits and struck out seven in five innings.
“They kind of beat me tonight, especially in the sixth inning there,” Brown said. “That was tough. Not the way you want to see it happen. I’m out there competing, and they’re competing against me and us. It just didn’t go our way.”
TRAINER’S ROOM
Athletics: RHP Ross Stripling was placed on the 15-day injured list, retroactive to Monday, with a lower back injury. LHP Kyle Muller was selected from Triple-A Las Vegas to take Stripling’s place on the list. LHP Jack O’Loughlin was designated for assignment to clear room on the 40-man roster.
Astros: OF Chas McCormick has a small fracture in his right hand and will be placed on the 10-day injured list, Espada said after the game. McCormick suffered the injury when he hit the outfield wall while making a catch on Tuesday night.
“It sucks,” McCormick said. “It’s really disappointing. I just want to be here and try to help the team win, especially at the end of the season, heading into the playoffs.”
NEXT
Astros LHP Framber Valdez (14-6, 2.97 ERA) will start opposite Athletics RHP Mitch Spence (7-9, 4.42 ERA) in the final game of the series on Thursday.
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