Showing they can hang with champs
HOUSTON — After a tough loss Tuesday night, falling in extra innings on a “zoo” of a play that flummoxed catcher Jonathan Lucroy, the A’s trotted back out and thumped the defending champion Astros.
That might not have happened earlier this year, when Houston was winning eight in a row in dominating fashion over Oakland. But the surging A’s now appear as if they can hang with the Astros a little better. On Wednesday, Oakland topped Houston 8-3, the team’s second win in three games at Minute Maid Park this week.
“That shows the grit these guys have,” manager Bob Melvin said. “That was a demoralizing loss (Tuesday), to get beat in the fashion we did, and this is a tough venue to play in — they play really well here. To be able to jump on their starting pitching right away showed me a lot from these guys.”
Chad Pinder cracked a threerun homer in the fourth inning and Khris Davis drove in three runs, two with a double and another with a triple, while extending his hitting streak to a career-high 13 games, the longest active streak in the majors.
“It’s been awesome,” Pinder said of Davis’ streak. “He’s not just a power hitter, he’s a great hitter. I don’t think people give him enough credit for that.”
The A’s are back to 11 games over .500, matching their season high, and they have not lost any of their past eight series, including the current set
against the Astros. Entering Wednesday, the A’s had lost 19 of their previous 26 games at Houston and 44 of 68 games against the Astros overall.
Right fielder Stephen Piscotty, who’d homered in each of the previous four games, was hit on the left wrist by a pitch from Lance McCullers Jr. in the fifth and then was thrown out at the plate trying to score on Pinder’s single to left. Piscotty did not return; X-rays did not show a break, Melvin said, and the injury is listed as a contusion.
Chris Bassitt, plugging one of the many injury-related openings in the rotation, turned in another decent outing, working five innings and giving up three runs; he has allowed more than three in just one of his six appearances.
“Here’s a guy who wasn’t even expected to be here and, after yesterday’s game, to go out and give us five innings and leave with the lead, that’s a successful outing,” Melvin said.
Bassitt had the benefit of early run support; Davis’ tworun double came in the first and Matt Chapman added a sacrifice fly that inning. Davis, who said he doesn’t feel particularly locked in at the plate, noted that the A’s have been winning a lot of games late, and especially after Tuesday’s rough loss, it was important to switch up the formula.
“It’s just not always coming back from behind,” he said. “Winning a ballgame when we’re ahead — we can do that, too.”
Pinder crushed an 0-2 curveball from McCullers in the fourth. “All he does when he gets an opportunity against right-handed pitching is do damage,” Melvin said of the right-handed hitting utilityman. “There’s some sock in his bat.”
Davis hit his RBI triple in the sixth, and during his streak, which is an A’s season high, he’s batting .377 with a homer, seven doubles and 11 RBIs. “He’s knocking in some big runs without the homers, which is adding a dimension to his game,” Melvin said.
Josh Phegley drove in a run with a two-out hit in the ninth.
On Thursday, Oakland goes for the series win against Charlie Morton, who’s trying to become Houston’s first starter to reach 12 wins before the break since Roy Oswalt in 2005.
“We’re just playing, and the expectation is to win every day,” Melvin said. “Obviously, (Houston) is a team that gets your attention. They’re the world champions and they’ve had their way with us, but I’m proud of the fact we’ve come in here and played hard and expect to win every day.”