In April rarity, comeback comes up short
Clutch hits don’t materialize despite several opportunities
The Astros defined April by their comebacks. They’ve said they never are out of any games, that no lead on them is guaranteed to be safe from their persistent lineup. They’ve excelled when outs and strikes mount and runners reach scoring position.
Saturday was the rare night when a meager deficit was insurmountable. Joe Musgrove’s best outing and Jose Altuve’s third home run of the season were not enough. The Astros (15-9) could not muster clutch hits when needed in a 2-1 loss to the Athletics (11-13).
The Astros began the game ranked third in the AL with a .302 batting average with runners in scoring position. They would finish the night 0-for-5.
In the first inning, Carlos Correa batted with Josh Reddick on third and Jose Altuve on second. Correa struck out swinging over a slider. Although he busted out of a 0-for-19 slump earlier this week by hitting .330 in a series against Cleveland, Correa has whiffed nine times in his past four games.
The Astros still had leverage. They had been hitting .354 with runners in scoring position and two outs, the best in the AL by more than 50 points. But Carlos Beltran struck out swinging at an inside curveball.
Correa could not redeem himself with two men on in the third. He grounded to second to end the inning.
In the fourth, Beltran was on again, after getting nicked by a pitch on his back leg. Then Yuli Gurriel followed by lacing a hanging breaking ball to left field for a single.
With Beltran at second and Gurriel at first, Brian McCann hit a deep fly ball caught by right fielder Jaff Decker. Beltran tagged up and Decker easily gunned him out with an impressive throw from in front of the warning track.
“I’m not surprised he tagged,” Astros manager A.J. Hinch said. “That’s the right play.”
Hinch challenged the call when the replay appeared to show third baseman Trevor Plouffe had missed the tag. The out was upheld.
Starting pitcher Andrew Triggs then struck out Alex Bregman and sprang off the mound in celebration, having vanquished his last jam of the night.
The Astros had only faced Triggs in two relief appearances before. Except for one bad start, Triggs has not given up a run this year.
With a side-arm delivery resembling a shortstop whipping the ball to second, Triggs slung Frisbeelike breaking balls that tempted Astros righties into reaching out and lefties into swinging over with futility.
Triggs threw seven shutout innings and a careerhigh nine strikeouts, which edged out Musgrove’s best effort. Musgrove struck out six, walked one and surrendered five hits in 61⁄3 innings.
“Every time I go out there I’m trying to give us a chance to put up that one big inning,” Musgrove said. “Tonight we didn’t do that. You’ve got to credit Triggs. He really kept us off-balance.”
Musgrove carried momentum from his previous start. After finishing an outing in Tampa bay with five no-hit innings, he extended the streak to 81⁄3. He had his slider working and put away four batters with it.
The streak ended emphatically in the fourth inning. On a 3-0 pitch, Musgrove served Jed Lowrie a 92-mph fastball in the middle of the zone. Lowrie’s resulting home run caromed off the second-deck façade. A fan promptly threw the ball back on to the field.
Musgrove’s one blemish proved terminal.
Will Harris gave up a home run in the eighth to righthander Khris Davis, his third in the past two days, all to right-center. Davis has teed off on the Astros. He is 7-for-17 with five of his 10 home runs this year against the Astros.
With four outs left for a comeback, Altuve jolted a nervous crowd with a higharching home run into the Crawford Boxes.
Fans and fireworks erupted. There was hope, the kind that is hard to dispel after a month like this.
In the bottom of the ninth, Beltran dribbled a slow roller right of the mound and closer Sergio Castilla pelted Beltran in the back on a panicked throw. Tony Kemp came in to pinch run.
The Astros could not have wanted anyone to bat more in this situation than Gurriel. He started the night with baseball’s highest batting average since April 11 (.458). Gurriel trusted the Athletics knew that and tried to catch them on their heels with a bunt attempt, but it went foul.
Gurriel then grounded into a double play, but replay converted it to a fielder’s choice when it revealed he beat out the relay throw to first by a toe.
The favorable review drummed up belief that one more run was within reach for the Astros.
McCann approached the plate with Gurriel on first as the tying run. He turned out to be the final chance. He grounded into a game