Stassi, Fisher pack wallop in Cole’s 4th win
Back-to-back home runs erase deficit in 7th; ‘sluggish’ righthander whiffs 9 in 6 innings
OAKLAND, Calif. — Max Stassi and Derek Fisher, batting seventh and eighth on Wednesday, have been two of the Astros’ least productive hitters. Houston has watched the bottom of its lineup kill rallies and break the chain of scoring that last season sent the most men across home plate.
The anemia changed in Oakland this week. The end of the lineup performed more like the heart of it, feasting on meaty pitches, serving George Springer’s 6-for-6 night in a blowout Monday and feeding two comeback victories that followed.
With the A’s leading by one run on an afternoon when Astros starter Gerrit Cole was good but not untouchable, Stassi launched a home run 414 feet to right-center. Fisher followed with one 447 feet to center. Their mammoth back-to-back blasts, both in two-strike counts, ignit-
ed a surge and lifted the Astros to a 4-1 win.
A displeased fan at the Oakland Coliseum captured the spirit of a home team swept by the visitors. After retrieving Fisher’s home run ball on the second deck in center field, the fan threw it back onto the field. The baseball looked like it had been dropped out of a skyscraper window.
“You don’t see many balls hit in that part of the ballpark,” Astros manager A.J. Hinch said.
Fisher, who upped his average to .194, said it was the farthest he ever hit a ball. Gurriel extends streak
An inning later, Yuli Gurriel extended his hitting streak to 11 games with a double that scored George Springer and Jose Altuve.
Cole (4-1) felt “sluggish,” he said, because he was still recovering from the 114 pitches he threw to strike out 16 batters in his previous start at Arizona.
He was not his sharpest Wednesday, but he did not need to be. In his six innings — his shortest start of the season — a fusillade of elevated high-90s fastballs overpowered a lineup that could not score more than two runs in a game this series.
“I found enough command,” Cole said, “which was suffering most.”
Cole surrendered his first extra-base hit in the fifth. He proceeded to get ahead 0-2 on Mark Canha, but he called Stassi, his catcher, to the mound to make sure they kept the game scoreless.
Cole returned to rifle a high-and-away 97 mph fastball past Canha, who threw down his bat.
The A’s got to Cole in the sixth. Matt Joyce slapped a single to center. Then Cole hung a breaking ball just enough for Jed Lowrie to pull it for a double that plated Joyce.
The blemish on his hard-fought outing seemed to offend him. Cole has set a high standard for himself in his dominant first season with the Astros.
He ended the inning with his eighth and ninth strikeouts, both on blazing fastballs, including one at 99 mph to sear the outside corner and freeze Matt Chapman.
“He knows when the end of his outing is coming,” Hinch said. “He’s got runners on base, he’s got a lot of action, and he’s going to empty his tank there. It’s why he’s really good. He’s got an ability o stay competitive in the mid-90s and reach back for the high 90s. There’s only a handful of guys that can do that.”
Cole sat at his locker with the team’s shabby but honorable robe draping him. He reclaimed the major league lead with 86 strikeouts. His one-run performance raised his ERA by 0.01. 1,300 hits for Altuve
Altuve got three hits, including two doubles. In the first, he bolted out of the box after flaring the ball to right field and flew into second for the 1,300th hit of his career.
Daniel Mengden, a Houston native with an old-timey windup and matching twirled mustache, had beguiled the Astros for 62⁄3 innings.
“We’ve seen him a couple different times,” Hinch said. “That's the most command that we’ve seen out of all of his pitches. He pitched us inside a little more than he normally does.”
Then the Stassi-Fisher assault chased Mengden from the game.
“Those are two big ones, especially from the bottom of our order,” Hinch said. “Seeing those guys come through when Gerrit lost the lead by mere inches — double down the line — big, big response by us.”
Relievers Joe Smith and Will Harris formed a bridge to Ken Giles.
Hinch showed confidence in Giles by sending the righthander out for a second consecutive save attempt in the wake of his embattled week since blowing one against the Yankees.
Giles faced Khris Davis, Chapman and Jonathan Lucroy. Each batter sent harmless flies to the outfield, and Giles notched his fifth save.
Thursday will be the Astros’ only day off in a stretch of 26 games.
“It’s always good to win the day before the off day, let alone sweep,” Stassi said.
Oakland’s visiting clubhouse staff catered the Astros well. Stassi delayed his recovery treatment and postgame interviews to wolf down shrimp and filet mignon. He used the corner of a spare game ticket to pick out a thread of beef stuck between his teeth.
“I was starving, dude,” he said. “I had to crush some food.”
He might as well have been speaking about the bottom of the order.