COOLING DOWN
After opening season with sweep of the A’s, Astros drop second in a row against Oakland.
Astros starter Jose Urquidy said he went on the offensive on Saturday against the Oakland Athletics. The problem for Urquidy and the Astros is the A’s offense responded in kind.
“I felt like I was attacking hitters in the zone a lot, but they were attacking me as well,” Urquidy said. “That was part of their game plan.”
The Astros knocked around the A’s in their first five meetings this season, the first four in Oakland, and the A’s finally got a little combative on their own with consecutive victories, including Saturday’s 7-3 beating of the Astros before 21,760 fans in Minute Maid Park.
The stadium is at limited capacity because of the COVID-19 pandemic, and Saturday’s turnout was considered a third consecutive sellout at about half full. Minute Maid Park did not have fans in 2020 because of the pandemic.
“It was great playing in front of these guys for our first homestand, and hopefully, we can fill the stadium up at some point and see everyone out here,” Astros right fielder Kyle Tucker said. “It was pretty cool having them back after not seeing them in the stadium for so long.”
The Astros have a rare Sunday off before hosting the Detroit Tigers in a threegame series starting Monday. Former Astros manager A.J. Hinch is in his first season leading the Tigers.
Tucker provided one of the Astros’ few offensive jolts on Saturday, with a home run to right to lead off the bottom of the seventh against A’s starter Frankie Montas (1-1), who otherwise had a terrific outing in allowing that lone run over six innings while striking out five.
Asked what was working for Montas against a suddenly stalled Astros offense, A’s manager Bob Melvin responded, “Everything.”
After winning five of their first six games on the road, the Astros (6-3) are 1-2 at Minute Maid Park, with all three home games so far against the A’s (3-7). The three home games were decided by four runs each, with the Astros winning Thursday 6-2, and the A’s following with 6-2 and 7-3 victories.
“It’s just two games, our season is so long we’re going to lose games and we’re going to win games,” Tucker said. “We’re going to put up 15 runs, and we’re going to lose by 15. That’s just kind of how baseball is. It’s just one of those days that they played better than us.”
Oakland on Saturday scored six of its seven runs with two outs, with Urquidy giving up four earned runs on seven hits over six innings. A’s center fielder Ramon Laureano mashed a two-run home run onto the left-field railroad tracks in the fifth inning off Urquidy (0-1), and designated hitter Seth Brown walloped a solo homer into the right-field upper deck off reliever Ryne Stanek.
“We couldn’t keep them in the ballpark today,” Astros manager Dusty Baker said. “They swung the bats a lot better in our park than they did in their park, and we swung the bats a lot better in their park than we did in our own park.
“We just go back to the drawing board, (although) you hate to lose your first series at home.”
One of the Astros’ offensive highlights occurred in a most unexpected manner:
A bunt single down the third-base line by slugger Yordan Alvarez with the A’s defense shifted to the right in the eighth inning. The perfectly placed ball scooted inches inside of the thirdbase bag as the A’s hoped it would roll foul.
“That’s something he can do every now and then,” Astros leadoff hitter Jose Altuve said of Alvarez’s surprising bunting prowess. “He can hit as many homers as he wants, but if you can get on base in that situation, it’s fine.”
Baker said even a bunt can shove a hitter out of a slump just by getting on base. The lefthanded-hitting Alvarez was 0-for-4 in Friday night’s 6-2 A’s victory and hitless in his first three atbats Saturday with two strikeouts before dropping down the textbook bunt.
“I thought it was impressive that it was off of Jake Diekman, a sidearm lefty coming from behind you. That was the most impressive part,” Tucker said with a smile. “I thought, ‘Dang that was off Diekman, that’s tough.’ ”