Defending champions tag rare series loss on Oakland
HOUSTON — The final game of the regular season between the A’s and the Astros made for a good snapshot of how interesting this matchup has become.
When Houston moved to the American League in 2013, Oakland thumped the Astros repeatedly. Most of the past few years, with the A’s at the bottom of the division, the roles were reversed. But starting in September, when Oakland swept four games at the Coliseum, the A’s have shown they can compete with the defending World Series
champs, and Wednesday’s season finale went down to the ninth inning.
Houston designated hitter Tyler White decided it with a solo homer off Jeurys Familia, giving the Astros a 5-4 victory that pushed them 2½ games ahead of Oakland in the AL West. The A’s dropped two of three at Minute Maid Park, just their second series loss since June 16.
“Two of the top two teams in the league going against each other, and we’re going to battle for the division until the last day of the season,” A’s catcher Josh Phegley said. “I think the fans got their money’s worth with the intensity, every pitch matters — just the emotion both the teams brought to the table was a lot of fun.”
Phegley said that Familia’s slider needed to be more of a put-away pitch. “We’ve just got to miss the plate, especially ahead in the count,” Phegley said.
It was the second homer allowed by Familia in 592⁄3 innings this season. Familia, acquired from the Mets in July, hadn’t allowed runs in 14 of his previous 16 appearances with Oakland. The A’s entered the day a major-league-best 27-10 in one-run games, including Tuesday night’s win over the Astros.
“A real spirited series, closely fought,” manager Bob Melvin said. “This time of year, if I’m a fan watching these games, pretty entertaining.”
A’s starter Trevor Cahill walked six Wednesday while allowing four runs in 31⁄3 innings.
“I couldn’t get any offspeed (pitches) over and my fastball command wasn’t great, either,” said Cahill, who hadn’t walked more than three in any of his previous starts.
Cahill has an ERA of 0.85 at home, 7.02 on the road. “Obviously I’m more comfortable at home because the mound’s the same,” he said, “but if you guys didn’t point it out, I probably wouldn’t even know, honestly.”
The A’s took the lead against Dallas Keuchel in the third. Jed Lowrie singled in a run when the ball fell from left fielder Tony Kemp’s glove after a spectacular diving attempt. With one out, Stephen Piscotty doubled in two runs to make it 3-2, Oakland.
Houston wrested back the lead in the fourth, when, with two on and one out, Cahill walked No. 9 hitter Kemp to load the bases, then gave up an RBI single by George Springer. Cahill had a spirited matchup with Alex Bregman, but what looked like a potential strike three was called a ball and Cahill walked Bregman with the next pitch to send in another run.
“I thought it was close,” Phegley said of the possible strike three. “It’s a big pitch whether it was the right call or the wrong call, and we walk him there and tie the ballgame.”
The A’s tied it again in the seventh, with an assist from yet another former A’s minorleaguer, Brad Peacock, who walked the bases loaded with one out, then hit Piscotty on the hand. Oakland failed to take greater advantage of the opportunity, though, as lefty Tony Sipp got Matt Olson to pop up and Joe Smith then got pinch-hitter Nick Martini to ground out.
“Those are the things you look back on and swings the game a little bit differently if we can come through,” Melvin said.
A’s rookie Ramón Laureano turned in his daily defensive stunner in the second inning. With Max Stassi at first, Kemp hit a drive to the deepest part of the park and Laureano, playing shallow, sprinted toward dead center and caught the ball over his shoulder. Had he not slipped on the track, he might have doubled Stassi off first.
“That’s the Willie Mays play — Vic Wertz all over again,” said Melvin, who didn’t think Laureano had a shot to make the play. “He catches it over his shoulder like that, that’s the one I thought of.”
The A’s got only 101⁄3 innings of work from their starters in the series, an increasing concern going into the final month, especially given the recent injuries to Sean Manaea (rotator-cuff tendinitis) and Brett Anderson (forearm strain).