Marte’s walkoff double finishes defensive struggle

OAKLAND, Calif. — Jose Altuve’s first swing garnered an extra-base hit and false hope of a speedy, scoring-filled game. His first-pitch double off Sean Manaea in the opening frame did not spur the Astros into action. The A’s starter in turn needed just four more pitches to retire Alex Bregman, Yordan Alvarez and Carlos Correa, thus stranding Altuve on third base.

A defensive battle commenced between Manaea and Framber Valdez. The Astros lost 2-1 on Saturday at the Coliseum for the second consecutive day. The magic number needed to clinch their fourth division title in five years remained stuck at three.

Through six scoreless innings, the Astros and A’s managed a combined three hits. Kyle Tucker’s solo home run in the top of the seventh broke open the stalemate before the A’s tied the game in the bottom of the inning via a hit-by-pitch and a blooped single.

Starling Marte walked it off for Oakland in the bottom of the ninth with an RBI double off Ryan Pressly.

Valdez had his first game since July 24 with more walks than strikeouts, yielding three hits, one earned run, four walks and three strikeouts over 62⁄3 innings. Manaea spun seven innings of onerun ball with three hits, one walk and eight strikeouts.

After Altuve’s leadoff double in the first inning, Houston ran into some tough luck in the second when Tucker fell behind 0-2 and was called out on a third pitch well outside the strike zone that came up on his hands and nearly hit him. Although Astros manager Dusty Baker came out to argue, the home plate umpire ruled that Tucker had struck out on a foul tip.

Manaea sent Marwin Gonzalez and Jake Meyers down swinging without a doubt afterward.

Manaea leaned heavily on his fastball to stymie the Astros offense. The Astros got runners on in a couple two-out situations when Correa drew a fourth-inning walk and Jose Siri was hit by a pitch in the fifth inning, but they could not score.

Houston made a handful of impressive defensive plays to back up Valdez, including a spinning throw by Altuve, Correa’s diving stop on Matt Olson’s rocket of a ground ball and a 6-4-3 double play to end

the fifth inning.

With one out in the top of the seventh inning, Tucker belted a 2-2 pitch to right-center field, his 28th home run of the season and fourth in 19 plate appearances against Manaea, to put the Astros up 1-0.

In the bottom of the inning, Baker swapped Gonzalez out for Yuli Gurriel at first base to help preserve the slender lead. Valdez gave up a one-out single to Khris Davis off the right-field wall, then procured a flyout for the second out. Valdez got ahead in the count 1-2 before his 95th pitch of the day hit Elvis Andrus on the foot and put

two on with two out. Baker summoned Kendall Graveman to the mound.

Graveman’s second pitch to Josh Harrison was a 98-mph sinker that resulted in an RBI single hit 60 mph off the bat. The ball dropped inches ahead of Correa, who ran into left field and was unable to make the play over his shoulder. 1-1. Graveman struck out Marte to strand the go-ahead run on second base.

Graveman encountered another jam in the eighth inning when he loaded the bases with one out. Three of the first four batters reached via two walks and a single. The Astros huddled on the mound. For the second consecutive game, the A’s brought in a pinch hitter with the bases loaded. Seth Brown struck out swinging at a high fastball from Graveman. The righthander induced a groundout to end the inning.

The Astros went down in order in the eighth and ninth innings, leaving Pressly to try and force extra innings in the bottom of the ninth. Andrus slipped a leadoff single through the left side. Pressly struck out Harrison before Marte delivered the game-winning hit.

John Hefti / Associated Press Astros starting pitcher Framber Valdez, in his first game since July 24, gave up three hits, one earned run and four walks and had three strikeouts on Saturday at Oakland.