A’s overcome late 3-run deficit to remain alive
Oakland hits 5 homers to close gap against Astros
LOS ANGELES — Ramón Laureano sensed his teammates’ energy dragging. They were down three runs with time running out to save their season.
So the Oakland outfielder lit into them in the dugout during the sixth inning, getting so loud he was heard easily in mostly empty Dodger Stadium.
And just in case Laureano’s words did not get the message across, he ripped a double as the A’s got a pair of sacrifice flies in the eighth to rally past the Houston Astros 9-7 on Wednesday and avoid elimination in their AL Division Series.
“We live another day,” Oakland manager Bob Melvin said.
Suitably inspired by Laureano’s outburst, Chad Pinder tied the score with a three-run homer in the seventh before Sean Murphy hit the go-ahead sac fly in the eighth.
“Ramón got everything fired up, saying this wasn’t it, we’re not going to let it be our last game, we’ve gone through too much this season,” Pinder said. “It was awesome.”
Houston leads the best-of-five series 2-1 and can advance to its fourth straight AL Championship Series with a victory in Game 4 on Thursday.
“There’s never a doubt in this team,” Oakland starter Jesús Luzardo said. “We can go ahead and win three in a row.”
The Astros wasted leads of 2-1 and 7-4, and the Athletics bounced back after giving up advantages of 1-0 and 4-2.
Houston’s bullpen had stifled Oakland in the first two games with seven shutout innings of one-hit relief, but Pinder ended that dominance.
Houston led 7-4 when Marcus Semien and Tommy La Stella had back-to-back singles off Josh James starting the seventh. Pinder hit a first-pitch slider to the opposite field for Oakland’s fifth homer, a drive chased by right fielder Kyle Tucker until he ran out of room at the short wall.
La Stella, Mark Canha, Matt Olson and Semien also homered for the A’s, whose entire infield went deep.
“They beat us with the home run ball,” Houston manager Dusty Baker said. “Tough to take but we have to come back tomorrow.”
The teams have combined for 18 homers — including seven in Game 3 — in the neutralsite series at Dodger Stadium featuring all day games. After two straight days in the 90s, the temperature cooled to 81 degrees.
Losing pitcher Brooks Raley walked Robbie Grossman leading off the eighth, and Laureano doubled. Murphy’s sacrifice fly put Oakland ahead, Semien walked, La Stella was hit on his right forearm, loading the bases and forcing him from the game. Pinder, who went 3 for 4 with four RBIs, followed with another sacrifice fly.
Winner Liam Hendriks pitched three innings of one-hit, scoreless relief.
“Once our backs are against the wall, suddenly everything changes,” Hendriks said. “Everybody has that bit of extra drive.”
Carlos Correa singled leading off the bottom of the eighth and Tucker reached on catcher’s interference by Murphy.
Yuli Gurriel popped out, Aedmys Díaz advanced the runners with a ground-out, and pinch-hitter Josh Reddick struck out, then breaking his bat over a knee.
Houston took a 7-4 lead with five runs in the fifth, when the Astros sent 10 batters to the plate. Díaz hit a tying, two-run homer off rookie Luzardo, and Brantley, Alex Bregman and Tucker drove in runs.
Hendriks threw 37 pitches. He vowed to be ready to pitch again Thursday.
“I wasn’t coming out of the game,” he said. “They were going to have to wrench the ball out of my hand.”
RAYS 8, YANKEES 4: In San Diego, Randy Arozarena homered for the third straight game and Kevin Kiermaier and Michael Perez also went deep for Tampa Bay, which beat New York to move within one win of reaching the ALCS for the first time in 12 years.
New York’s Giancarlo Stanton hit a two-run homer off Shane McClanahan to center field in the eighth inning to become the first player with a home run in each of his team’s first five games of a single postseason. Stanton has six homers and 13 RBIs in those five games.
The Rays took a 2-1 lead in the best-of-five Division Series. Game 4 is Thursday night at Petco Park, which has yielded 16 home runs in three games — nine by Tampa Bay.
Arozarena, a 25-year-old rookie from Havana who’s nicknamed “The Cuban Rocket,” is having a breakout postseason. He homered off Gerrit Cole in the first inning of Game 1, a 9-3 Yankees win, and off rookie Deivi García in the first inning of Game 2, a 7-5 Rays win.
He hit a shot deep to left leading off the fifth Wednesday night to chase Masahiro Tanaka and give the Rays a 5-1 lead. Arozarena went 3 for 4 with a walk. He leads all players in the postseason with 12 hits in five games.
“He has to be the best baseball player on earth right now,” Rays starter Tyler Glasnow said after Tuesday night’s win.
Kiermaier hit a three-run shot into the home run deck in right off Tanaka with no outs in the fourth to make it 4-1. Joey Wendle was aboard on a leadoff single and Willy Adames on a walk.
“To be quite honest, I think my homer really got us going and then it was a snowball effect after that,” Kiermaier said.
Perez hit a two-run shot to left off Chad Green in the sixth. Kiermaier was aboard on a leadoff double. It was the 11th home run by a No. 9 hitter this postseason, the most all-time.
Charlie Morton got the win after holding the Yankees to two runs, one earned, and four hits in five innings.