Sears gives A's something to smile about after latest loss
With the A's on pace to finish with the secondmost losses in major league history, they'll take any kind of victory they can these days. Even if it happens during another defeat.
Such was the case Saturday when A's rookie pitcher JP Sears bounced back from a rough, 37-pitch first inning to throw five scoreless innings while retiring 16 of his final 17 hitters in Houston's 3-2 victory.
Oakland's left-hander wasn't involved in the decision, the loss went to reliever Richard Lovelady (0-2), who gave up Yordan Alvarez's tiebreaking solo home run in the eighth inning.
The loss was Oakland's 11th in its last 13 games and leaves the A's at a major league-worst 10-37. They're on a pace to finish 34-127.
Sears labored so much in the first inning that A's manager Mark Kotsay said the rookie was one batter away from being taken out of the game. Sears gave up four hits and a walk while Houston scored twice on an Alvarez sacrifice fly and Kyle Tucker's single. The lefty got out of the jam by striking out Corey Julks with the bases loaded.
“Obviously I'm not happy with how the game started,” Sears said. “I settled in (and) felt like I located my fastball the last five innings and kept guys off the slider a little bit.
“I want to get a win. That's part of baseball, just having to grind. Find things you can get better at throughout the year. Just trying to amplify the good things and reduce the bad things. We're gonna continue to do that and hopefully things start to turn around for us.”
After needing 37 pitches to get through the first, Sears better located his slider and fastball while throwing just 55 additional pitches to get through five more innings. He struck out seven batters.
“You love to see that in a young starter,” Kotsay said. “He battled through that first inning and kept his composure and went out and gave his team a chance to win.”
However, Alvarez's home run enabled the Astros to extend their season-long winning streak to six games. The game was tied at 2-2 with no outs in the eighth when Alvarez sent a pitch from Lovelady into the seats in right field for his team-leading 10th homer this season.
The A's have allowed at least one home run in a franchiserecord 23 straight games and have given up an MLB-leading 81 homers this year.
Jose Altuve doubled in a two-run first inning for Houston for his first hit of the year after going 0 for 4 in his season debut Friday night. Altuve missed the first 43 games after fracturing his right thumb in the World Baseball Classic.
Hector Neris (3-1) allowed one hit in a scoreless eighth for the win. Ryan Pressly pitched a scoreless ninth for his eighth save.
Speedy A's rookie Esteury
Ruiz had two hits and two stolen bases, giving him an MLB-leading 23 this season as the A's dropped their third straight.
Ryan Noda doubled to start the fourth and the A's cut it to 2-1 when Brent Rooker singled on a grounder to center field.
Ruiz singled with no outs in the sixth before collecting his 22nd stolen base when he swiped second. Martín Maldonado made an error on the play to allow Ruiz to reach third.
Oakland tied it when Ruiz scored on a sacrifice fly by Noda.
The Astros had a chance to take the lead in the seventh when they had runners on first and second with two outs. But Bregman grounded out on the eighth pitch of his at-bat to end the inning.
Ruiz singled with one out in the eighth. He stole second base and reached third on another error by Maldonado after a strikeout by Noda. But he was left stranded when Neris retired Rooker.
TRAINER'S ROOM >> A's LHP Ken Waldichuk was feeling better Saturday after leaving Friday night's start in the sixth inning with a mild left calf strain, and Kotsay said he's hopeful that the injury won't cause him to miss a start. … RHP Drew Rucinski was placed on the 15-day injured list Saturday, retroactive to Wednesday, with a stomach illness. RHP James Kaprielian was recalled from Triple-A Las Vegas to take his spot on the roster and is scheduled to start today.