OAKLAND, Calif. _ The nightmare for the Athletics late-inning relievers continued Sunday as the Houston Astros scored twice against Lou Trivino in the 12th inning to win 6-4 and sweep the three-game series at the Coliseum.
Michael Brantley and Yuli Gurriel delivered RBI singles as Trivino (2-3) got his third loss on the homestand before a crowd of 23,144.
All the Athletics' scoring came courtesy of solo home runs _ Robbie Grossman (his fourth) in the second, Jurickson Profar (ninth) in the second, Ramon Laureano (seventh) in the seventh and Matt Chapman (16th) in the eighth.
It was the fifth straight loss for the Athletics, who fell to 29-30 and are in third place, 10 { games behind Houston in the American League West and two games behind second-place Texas. Josh James (3-0) was the winning pitcher for Houston.
Athletics hitters were retired in order in each of the last four innings.
Neither Athletics manager Bob Melvin nor right fielder Stephen Piscotty were around at the finish, as both were ejected by home plate umpire Alan Porter after Piscotty struck out looking to end the 10th inning.
The Athletics tied it at 4 in the bottom of the eighth on Chapman's home run in center field to lead off the inning against reliever Ryan Pressly.
Cole gave up two runs on the second-inning home runs, but needed to throw 104 pitches to get through six innings. Will Harris took over in the seventh, and he surrendered Laureano's home run to left field to get the Athletics within 4-3.
Bassitt left after six innings and 100 pitches, 65 of them strikes, in favor of left-hander Ryan Buchter. The Astros got a run off Buchter for a 4-2 lead when Myles Straw, who drew a one-out walk, scored on Derek Fisher's ground ball single to left.
Houston didn't exactly wear the ball out in scoring two runs in the fifth inning to take a 3-2 lead.
Tony Kemp opened with a walk, then raced around to third base on a ground single to left by Straw. After Fisher popped to second, Alex Bregman followed with a grounder to the right of Marcus Semien at deep shortstop. Kemp came in to score, and when first baseman Matt Olson couldn't dig Semien's throw out of the dirt, Straw scored as well.
The Athletics got to Cole for two runs in the second inning on solo home runs, with Grossman leading off the inning with a blast to right and Profar doing the same with one out.
Houston got to Bassitt for a run in the first when Derek Fisher hit the first pitch of the game for a double to center and scored on a two-out double by Yuli Gurriel.
