HOUSTON _ Things could not have started out more perfectly for the A's. An early 4-0 lead with their top pitcher as of late 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, an avalanche of offensive firepower was too much to overcome in Monday's 11-4 loss to the Astros to seal any hope of taking the division lead in this series.
Given Brett Anderson's recent history with outings of seven-plus shutout innings in three of his previous four starts entering the night, you figure a four-run cushion affords him plenty of leeway. But it seemed like Chapman's home run only woke a sleeping giant, because the Astros (81-50) immediately opened a black hole of hits the next inning.
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 only grew louder.
The left-hander attempt at damage control failed as he would record one more 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 Anderson failed to go past five innings for the first time since July 14.
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 Pagan both served up a pair of three-run homers as things got completely out of hand.
Daniel Mengden, who was 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 (79-53) 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.
