Early 4-run lead means nothing as A’s lose to Astros.
Houston emphatically erases A’s early 4-0 lead with 11 unanswered runs in loss
HOUSTON >> Things could not have started out more perfectly for the A’s. An early 4-0 lead with a hot pitcher on the mound. Sounds too good to be true, right? Turns out it was.
After Matt Chapman’s two-run homer off Gerrit Cole in the third put the A’s ahead by four, the Astros answered and answered and answered in an 11-4 victory that will prevent the A’s from leaving here Wednesday with the division lead.
Oakland (79-53) trails Houston (81-50) by 21/2 games with 30 games to play. The A’s remain 41/2 games
ahead of Seattle in the race for the second wild card.
Given Brett Anderson’s recent history with outings of seven-plus shutout innings in three of his previous four starts, you figure a fourrun cushion affords him plenty of leeway. But it seemed as if Chapman’s home run only woke a sleeping giant, because the Astros immediately began opening a Texassized black hole of hits the next inning.
“It looked like there wasn’t a lot of crispness to him,” A’s manager Bob Melvin said. “He was having trouble throwing his breaking ball, so it ended up being mostly fastball and changeup for him. It just spiraled out of control there.”
Anderson retired Josh Reddick to lead off the fourth before getting pummeled for four straight hits, including three consecutive RBI doubles by George Springer, Alex Bregman and Jose Altuve to quickly cut the Astros deficit to a run. As each hit came, the roar from the sold out crowd of 43,171 fans at Minute Maid Park grew louder.
Anderson got an out before
surrendering another hit, this time a single to Marwin Gonzalez that brought home Altuve to tie the game. It was at this point that A’s manager Bob Melvin had seen enough, pulling the plug on Anderson with just two outs in the third as the left-hander failed to go past five innings for the first time since July 14.
Anderson sensed he would not have his usual breaking ball, which has developed as his putaway pitch over his recent string of success, during the pregame bullpen session. He tried to compensate for it by keeping attacking low in the zone with the fastball.
It worked for the first two innings as he induced three ground ball outs, including an inning-ending double play against Altuve, but the second time around the order was disastrous.
“I feel bad because our offense came out and did their job,” Anderson said. “I should be able to preserve that lead somehow, but they’re a good lineup with everybody healthy again and full strength. Just couldn’t stop the bleeding,”
Anderson’s worst two outings this year have both come against the Astros. The only other time he allowed more than four earned runs in a start came May 7 at the Coliseum with seven in just three innings against Houston.
“It’s unfortunate,” Anderson said. “I’ve had two crappy outings and both have come against the team that we’re chasing in the division.”
It was Anderson’s first loss in nearly a month as he fell to 3-4 with his ERA now up to 4.02 in 13 starts.
Yusmeiro Petit came on trying to put out the fire only to be greeted by Tyler White with a single to put the Astros ahead by a run. Reddick, who had recorded the first out of the inning what seemed like hours ago, would pop out to Chapman to finally end the carnage. The nightmare that was the third inning finished with the Astros putting up five runs, all charged to Anderson, on seven hits.
But the third wasn’t even the worst inning of the night. That came in the eighth, when a close game turned into a blowout as Lou Trivino and Emilio Pagán both served up a pair of threerun homers as things got completely out of hand.
Daniel Mengden, recalled
earlier in the day and considered a potential starting rotation candidate to replace Sean Manaea, who was placed on the 10-day disabled list Sunday, did everything he could to keep the A’s in the game.
The right-hander took over to begin the fourth and held the Astros scoreless for the next four innings as he allowed just four hits.
“That was terrific,” Melvin said. “You don’t want to have to use him, but he came in and did great in a place that has been tough for him. Pitched beautifully and gave us a chance into the late innings. We just couldn’t do a lot offensively.”
Although the A’s started out on fire with the pair of two-run homers by Chapman and Marcus Semien, the gruesome third inning seemed to be a demoralizer. The A’s were able to build Cole’s pitch count to 96 and get him out after six, but scattered just three hits the rest of the way and only got a runner in scoring position once.
Resiliency has been the A’s trademark all season. Compiling the best record in baseball since June 16 at 45-17, the club 8-1 following a loss in the series openers over that time. That’s why Melvin is not concerned about a potential hangover effect come Tuesday night.
“They’re just playing every day to win. We got off to a good start and there was a good feeling in our dugout,” Melvin said. “The big inning kind of took the wind out of our sails, but they’ll be out there playing in the same fashion they have been.”
• After undergoing an MRI on his left shoulder back in Oakland Monday, Manaea will visit with orthopedic surgeon Dr. Neal ElAttrache today in Los Angeles.