Held to 2 hits, Astros still escape Oakland with win
Victory on 2 hits includes Altuve’s fourth leadoff HR of young season
OAKLAND, Calif. — Baseball’s most underachieving team managed only two hits Sunday.
But because of Jose Altuve’s leadoff home run and Doug Fister’s best start of the season, the Astros escaped their series finale against the Athletics with a 2-1 win at the Coliseum. On the heels of a 2-4 West Coast trip, they open a 10-game homestand Monday against the Twins, the lone American League team off to a worse start through the season’s first four weeks.
Sunday’s matinee signified just the third win in a 12-game span for the Astros (8-17), mired in last place in a muddled American League West. Their 7-17 April was worse than any month they compiled last season, when they won 86 games and made their first postseason appearance in a decade.
Quipped A. J. Hinch before the team’s evening flight back to Houston, “May’s been great for us, hasn’t it?
“We have a good team, and we’re going to have to be dealt with by a lot of teams,” the second-year Astros manager said. “Certainly, we haven’t put ourselves in a terrific position at the end of April, but that’s why it’s a six-month season and not a onemonth trial.”
The Astros’ l atest skid-ending victory was unique in that it was the franchise’s first behind just two hits since June 27, 2012, when Lucas Harrell threw a 1-0 shutout against the Padres. Two innings after Altuve pounced on the game’s third pitch, a 1-1 curveball that veteran lefthander Rich Hill left over the plate, the Astros parlayed a Jason Castro single, two walks and a fly ball into the game-deciding run.
Fister (2-3) was the most efficient he has been in his five starts with the Astros, who signed the veteran sinkerballer to a one-year, $ 7 million deal in late January. He allowed one run over 62⁄ innings, continuing a recent string of winnable performances from an Astros rotation that struggled for much of April.
In the last four games of the road trip, Astros starting pitchers combined for a 2.66 ERA over 232⁄ innings. The offense, how- ever, compiled only six hits over the last two games. The Astros’ saving grace Sunday was that they drew seven walks.
Altuve’s leadoff home run was the eighth of his six-year career. Four came in his first 96 at-bats of this season. No Astros player has mashed four leadoff homers in a season since Craig Biggio hit a club-record six in 2006. Altuve is well on his way to eclipsing the Hall of Famer’s mark.
Colby Rasmus’ teamleading 20th RBI, on a deep sacrifice fly to right field in the third inning, extended the Astros’ lead to two runs. They failed to pile on, with Tyler White popping out to third base with the bases loaded to cap the frame.
Even so, the Astros ran up Hill’s pitch count to the point he lasted only six innings despite yielding just the two hits. Hill (3-3) issued a season-high five walks.
Fister pitched into the seventh inning for the first time this season. The first batter he faced in his final frame, Coco Crisp, smacked a line drive to right field on which George Springer made a headfirst diving catch. The pitcher, smiling, tipped his cap to his right fielder.
But the inning quickly became laborious for Fister. Once Chris Coghlan beat the shift with a single, Tony Sipp began warming in the bullpen. Yonder Alonso singled to put runners on the corners, and Marcus Semien grounded another hit up the middle to score the lone A’s run.
After Billy Burns grounded into a fielder’s choice, Hinch came out to get Fister, who allowed seven hits, struck out five and walked one in his outing. Sipp, the bullpen’s lone lefthander, induced an inning-ending fly out from Jed Lowrie to preserve the one-run lead.
Two days after Ken Giles’ latest unraveling, Hinch used the tandem of Sipp and righthander Will Harris to bridge the gap to closer Luke Gregerson, who converted his fifth save in as many opportunities on the season.
As Giles works through his struggles, Harris will handle the bulk of the high-leverage, eighth-inning situations for the Astros. Sunday was Harris’ 10th consecutive scoreless outing, and his 0.77 ERA in 112⁄ innings overall is the best on the team.
“Will Harris has been terrific,” Hinch said. “I don’t want to peg him for the eighth inning, only because there’s going to be some times we’re going to want to troubleshoot in the sixth or seventh where he’s the best option. But he was the guy I wanted to turn to, and I told him that a couple days ago. … He’ll get the ball quite a bit.”