Houston rallies to complete 3-game sweep
Perhaps no pitcher has vexed the Oakland Athletics in a current career like Justin Verlander. The Astros’ righthander looked poised Wednesday to author another chapter in his role as tormentor.
Then the A’s flipped the script.
Verlander, back from Tommy John surgery and still formidable at age 39, took a nohitter to the seventh inning in Oakland. In a two-batter span, he lost his bid for history and a Houston lead.
Elvis Andrus, the only current A’s hitter with a track record against Verlander, pulled a two-out double down the left-field line to score Chad Pinder, who had walked, for the tying run. Christian Bethancourt followed with his first major-league home run in nearly six years.
But the A’s couldn’t capitalize. Closer Dany Jiménez walked in one run in the ninth and left with the bases full. Yordan Alvarez cleared them with a double off Sam Selman that sent the A’s to a 5-4 loss as the Astros completed a threegame sweep.
“To lose that lead and to lose the game, it’s a tough loss today,” manager Mark Kotsay said.
Verlander returned to a mound where he has thrived. In 14 prior regular-season starts at the Coliseum, Verlander had a 2.64 ERA, his third lowest in a ballpark where he has pitched at least 10 times. That did not include his postseason mastery of the A’s, which includes three starts in Oakland in the 2012 and 2013 ALDS in which he allowed zero runs.
Those A’s offenses were formidable. They awoke Wednesday last in the majors in team average (.213) and OPS (.608). Of their lineup, only Andrus (20-for-65) had faced Verlander more than 10 times.
Over six innings, Verlander allowed only a hit-by-pitch and a walk in the third. He’d retired 12 in a row when Pinder worked a walk in the seventh. Verlander struck out Seth Brown. Andrus, who had lined out to right in his prior at-bat, whirled on a 1-1 fastball and yanked it down the left-field line.
“That’s the fun about facing Verlander. He’s one of the best sequence pitchers ever,” Andrus said. “I always try to play the kind of chess game to see how he pitched me first at-bat, and see how he will approach me in the second and third.
“After he threw me that second pitch — which I think was a strike, but the umpire gave it to me — I knew he was probably going to come back (with a fastball). I was glad that I followed my approach.”
It brought up Bethancourt, the backup catcher, who had not homered since 2016.
Verlander didn’t throw Bethancourt a curveball in his first two at-bats, but tried one on the first pitch of their third meeting. Bethancourt drove it 409 feet over the center-field wall.
“Surprisingly, I was expecting some breaking ball,” Bethancourt
said. “He was throwing me a lot of fastballs my first two at-bats and I picked up that when I came up. They had a talk on the mound, so I thought they were going to change the plan or something. So I stuck with mine, which was look for a breaking ball first pitch.”
The pitching: Cole Irvin worked 5 2⁄3 innings, his lone blemish in the third. Kyle Tucker drew a one-out walk. Alvarez and Aledmys Díaz followed with back-to-back singles to give Houston a 1-0 lead.
Reliever Domingo Acevedo recorded two outs and A.J. Puk got four. Jiménez replaced Puk with runners on second and third in the eighth and induced a groundout from Chas McCormick to escape the inning.
Jiménez returned for the ninth. Two singles and a walk loaded the bases with no outs. One of the hits was a Yuli Gurriel grounder up the middle that bounced off Jiménez. He struck out Kyle Tucker but walked Alex Bregman to force in a run.
“I think the ball Gurriel hits, if he’s out of the way, it’s a 4-3 double play,” Kotsay said. “There’s some bad luck involved there.”
With Puk already used and lefty Sam Moll unavailable, the A’s turned to Selman to face Alvarez, who doubled on an 0-2 fastball.
Kotsay ejected: Kotsay was ejected by plate umpire Mike Muchlinski in the eighth. Kotsay, in the dugout, and Muchlinski jawed after a close pitch from Puk to Alvarez was called a ball. After a Jeremy Peña double, Kotsay went to the mound, but did not signal for a new pitcher. The A’s infield also convened. Muchlinski went to break up the meeting and ejected Kotsay upon arriving.
“I basically made a statement that I only asked about one pitch during the game,” Kotsay said. “According to him, he told me he’d had enough of my asking and thus ejected me. Big moment in the game, 2-2 pitch to Alvarez, it’s strike three from my vantage point. I know he’s doing his best back there and it’s an emotional moment.”