Cotton has best start in months
like that.”
Boog Powell singled to right to open the game, the first of his three hits Sunday. Marcus Semien followed with a sharp grounder to deep short, and Alex Bregman’s throw to second was wild, winding up almost near the right-field line. Josh Reddick’s throw home was cut off by first baseman Marwin Gonzalez, who tried to get Semien at third but also misfired.
“That couldn’t have worked better for us,” Powell said.
“Boog did a really good job of hustling to second to pressure Bregman,” Semien said. “As a shortstop, that’s tough, when the guy at first is really fast.
“I had that play happen in Little League, it was on my mom’s birthday — she thought it was a home run, but I thought there were errors. It was probably like an infield single.”
Semien said he got several texts from former El Cerrito Little League teammates after Sunday’s game. He was credited with a base hit, making only one of the runs unearned.
Another unearned run came off Brad Peacock in the sixth, when, with the bases loaded and one out, catcher Juan Centeno couldn’t come up with a pitch from rookie reliever Francis Martes, who had just entered the game. Jed Lowrie scored.
In the grand scheme of things, the bigger news for the A’s was that rookie Jharel Cotton, erratic much of the season, outpitched Peacock, working 62⁄3 innings — and that’s despite a 25-pitch first inning in which Cotton walked two.
“I think he found out if he throws the ball over the plate, it’s going to allow him to stay in the game a little bit longer,” Melvin said. “And his stuff is good. He should take a lot out of this game, especially against a lineup like that.”
Oakland also got nice outings from Sean Manaea and Kendall Graveman in the series. Coming into the series, Oakland starters had a 7.29 ERA over the previous 19 games. “It seems like there is some momentum that builds amongst the starters when somebody else is following up the next guy with a good start,” Melvin said.
Houston’s first run off Cotton came in the third, when Jake Marisnick doubled, went to third on a groundout and scored on a sacrifice fly by Bregman. Gonzalez crushed a homer to right leading off the seventh to cut Oakland’s lead to one.
Cotton was 0-3 with an 8.06 ERA over his previous five starts, and opponents put up a .327 average in that stretch. Sunday’s appearance was his second-longest outing of the season after a seven-inning appearance April 10, and he gave up two earned runs, his lowest total since June 23.
“I handled that outside corner and I was consistently down in the zone,” said Cotton, who intentionally used his fastball more than usual. “And when I missed, it wasn’t a big miss.”
Cotton exited after Centeno’s single in the seventh, and Chris Hatcher allowed a base hit to Marisnick, putting men at the corners with two outs. Hatcher struck out George Springer swinging to end the inning; he has held opponents to an .069 average with runners in scoring position, best in the majors.
In the eighth, closer Blake Treinen entered the game with one on and no outs. He struck out Reddick and Gonzalez. Treinen recorded a two-inning save, getting Marisnick looking to end the game.