Messy 4th inning undermines Valdez’s start

OAKLAND, Calif. — Framber Valdez’s volatility can usually be canceled out by an unflappable presence behind the plate. On occasion when Valdez comes unglued, the Astros look to their veteran catcher to hold things together.

An ugly fourth inning — and a strange series of events, at that — subverted the balance on Saturday.

Valdez worked around traffic in each of his first two frames and retired the side in order in the third. But he began the fourth by issuing a leadoff single and a one-out walk before Stephen Piscotty bounced a single into left field.

With the bases loaded, Seth Brown tapped a ball a foot onto the infield grass. Catcher Martín Maldonado grabbed it but was slow to turn around, and Sean Murphy evaded Maldonado’s tag at the plate as Brown reached first base safely. Valdez and Maldonado exchanged frustrated glances.

A passed ball during the next at-bat allowed the tying run to score before Oakland took the lead on a wild pitch. It would remain intact as the A’s defeated the Astros 3-2 to

even the series at a game apiece.

And while Valdez did not throw another nineinning complete game in Oakland, he recovered and pitched eight innings for his MLB-leading 14th consecutive quality start on Saturday. After the A’s took the lead, Valdez walked the next batter before retiring 13 in a row.

Other than the messy

fourth inning, Valdez was solid with two earned runs and one unearned on four hits, two walks and three strikeouts. He threw 96 pitches, including 60 strikes.

His consistency did not matter as Houston’s offense stagnated.

Opposite Valdez, A’s rookie left-hander Zach Logue made his sixth bigleague start after debuting

in April. Logue had never faced an Astros hitter, but after surrendering an RBI single in the second inning, he retired 11 consecutive batters. Logue finished five innings with two earned runs, three hits, one walk and two strikeouts.

The Astros opened an early lead against Logue in the second inning. After Yuli Gurriel singled

and Aledmys Díaz doubled to center field, Chas McCormick’s one-out RBI single put Houston on the board. Maldonado’s groundout allowed Díaz to score.

Houston finished the game 1-for-7 with runners in scoring position and left six men on base.

Maldonado got rattled again in the eighth inning, this time batting leadoff against reliever Zach Jackson. Astros manager Dusty Baker was ejected by home plate umpire Ben May after arguing a third strike call on Maldonado in what ended up another scoreless inning for the Astros.

Oakland reliever Lou Trivino stranded two Astros runners in the ninth inning to close out the game.

Jeff Chiu/Associated Press Oakland A’s catcher Sean Murphy (12) swerves past Astros catcher Martín Maldonado to score on a tapper hit a few feet in front of home plate. A passed ball and a wild pitch in the next at-bat scored two more for Oakland.