One swing of bat too much to overcome
Healy greets Hoyt with grand slam in 6th; McCann hits into DP to end furious rally in 9th
The Astros have turned highleverage situations into routine procedures for their surgical trio of Chris Devenski, Will Harris and closer Ken Giles this season.
Last weekend in Seattle, they put in extra efforts to cover for a depleted starting rotation. Manager A.J. Hinch looked to another arm Tuesday night to keep the Athletics from busting the game open wide enough that the Astros could not recover.
With two outs and the game tied 1-1 in the sixth, Hinch brought in James Hoyt with the bases loaded.
Hinch needed a steady right hand, but Hoyt had been one of the shakiest. He took the mound with an ERA near 10 his last nine games.
On a full count, Hoyt cleared the bases in the worst way. He surrendered a grand slam to Ryon Healy.
A rally in the ninth inning, jolted by George Springer’s threerun home run, was not enough.
The A’s (35-43) held off the Astros (52-26) to win 6-4.
Hoyt said he expected Healy to sit on a slider, which would let Hoyt throw a fastball by him.
“I let the team down,” Hoyt said. “They put me out there in a big time in the game and I just didn’t do my job.”
The starting matchup at Minute Maid Park fit right for two pedestrian pitchers to carry a duel through five innings. The Astros’ Mike Fiers (5-3) had vaulted from a fringe option to go undefeated in his previous five starts. Sean Manaea (7-4), the A’s lefty, had hindered Houston in his young career.
Fiers faltered first on a night when he worked in and out of trouble until he left the mess that Hoyt could not clean up. Fiers went 52⁄3 innings with four earned runs to match his worst outing since May 14 against the Yankees.
Bruce Maxwell showed why he has replaced catcher Stephen Vogt, who the Athletics designated for assignment. He went 3-for-4 with two doubles off Fiers and drove in the first run of the game.
In the second, Fiers hit Khris Davis, who stole second and took third on a wild pitch. Maxwell deftly lifted a curveball near the dirt into center to put the Athletics ahead 1-0.
The Astros, who have made clutch hits an expectation this year, found ways to squelch their own rallies against Manaea.
With two outs in the second inning, Marwin Gonzalez appeared determined to score on a double by Jake Marisnick. His churned to a halt rounding third base when Gary Pettis throw up his palms. Fans booed when the throw home was errant.
Springer has thrived with runners in scoring position this season. Instead, he struck out swinging at a breaking ball low and away.
The Astros tied the game in the fifth with a run but squandered favorable chances more. With no outs and the bases loaded, Evan Gattis was patient. He let three outside fastballs drift by. The crowd rumbled with anticipation.
Then, the potential rally the Astros carefully strung together was minimized in less than two minutes. Gattis grounded the 3-0 pitch into a double play. Springer scored to tie the game 1-1.
Manaea then jammed Brian McCann on the first pitch to end any surge.
The Astros had gone 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position and left nine on base before a late rush.
Fiers set his season-high pitch count at 106 in a sixth inning that he almost completed. Hinch had Hoyt and Reymin Guduan warming up when Fiers served up a single to Jed Lowrie with a runner on and one out.
Fiers later admitted he felt like that pitch would be his last of the night. He slumped on a walk back to the mound, knowing that Hinch would follow.
The visit stammered due to miscommunication. Hoyt exited the bullpen. Then Hinch sent him back and left Fiers in.
“I’m not sure what James was thinking,” Hinch said. “I wasn’t planning on taking him out….I think they just jumped the gun.”
“I thought he was coming to take me out,” Fiers said of Hinch. “He had the confidence in me to get out of the inning.”
Fiers got Davis to pop foul to McCann and he seemed to generate momentum. He returned to the mound clapping his mitt.
Then Fiers walked Yonder Alonso to ruin the hard work and set up the grand slam, for which he was charged three earned runs.
Manaea yielded nine hits in 52⁄3 innings, but unlike with the Astros, when he allowed consecutive singles in the sixth, he benefited from Ryan Madson, a veteran hard-throwing reliever, to end Oakland’s jam.
Reymin Guduan hemorrhaged the Astros’ bullpen more, giving up another run.
With Oakland ahead 6-1 in the bottom of the ninth, Springer — who else could it be right now? — hit a three-run home run to give the Astros a shot at their 22nd comeback victory.
After Springer’s 23rd home run of the season injected adrenaline into a drowsy crowd that stayed standing, Jose Altuve and Carlos Correa muscled out singles into the outfield.
Josh Reddick flew out in a pinch-hit opportunity on the first pitch. McCann had a chance to be the hero as the winning run, but he grounded into a game-ending double play.
hunter.atkins@chron.com twitter.com/hunteratkins35