A sputtering A’s offense managed to put up six runs over two innings against Framber Valdez, but no lead is too steep a climb for the Houston Astros.
Behind a two-home run game from Yordan Alvarez, the A’s lost the lead and lost the first game of this crucial three-game series, 9-6, on Tuesday night at Minute Maid Park Houston.
Chris Bassitt couldn’t sneak any fastball or cutter past Alvarez, who bit into an early A’s 3-0 lead with a two-run home run off Bassitt’s cutter in the first inning. With the A’s up 6-3, Alvarez rewarded Jose Altuve’s leadoff double and Yuli Gurriel’s single with a game-tying three-run home run off a 3-1 sinker. Bassitt got the hook after that, one out into the fifth inning.
Bassitt’s six earned runs were the most he’s allowed all season and his 4 1/3 innings was his shortest outing since he went four against the Seattle Mariners on June 1.
He’d been working with a comfortable lead, too. The A’s entered the game batting .193 as a team over their last nine games, but were aggressive on Valdez’s sinker early. The A’s collected a run on three hits on Valdez’s first four pitches and put up two more in the first on RBIs from Chad Pinder and Jed Lowrie.
They answered Alvarez’s first home run with three more of their own in the second inning. But those six runs were all they could get, and it was all they should have needed. In relief, J.B. Wendelken put runners in scoring position in the sixth and Yusmeiro Petit couldn’t clean up the mess. With an open base, Jose Altuve took his first pitch for a two-run, go-ahead single.
