OAKLAND, Calif. _ Sean Manaea, the closest thing the Oakland A's have had to a stopper in the starting rotation, did what he could to find a way for Oakland to shut down the Houston Astros Wednesday, but the American League's winningest team was able to outwait him in a 5-1 win.
While Houston right-hander Mike Fiers was turning the A's away inning after inning, the Astros threw off the shackles Manaea had put on them for five innings, putting together five hits in the sixth, good for three runs.
That was more than enough to derail the A's, who have lost three consecutive games to the Astros after having swept the New York Yankees in a four-game series to start this homestand.
It's nothing new that the A's could get nothing going against Houston. The A's are 0-5 against the Astros at the Coliseum this year, 1-7 when the games in Houston are added in and 1-14 dating back to last season
Factor in that Houston has the best record in the Major Leagues at 49-24, and Wednesday played out just the way recent history suggested it might.
After Manaea, a second-year left-hander riding a five-game winning streak, turned Houston away on two hits and no runs in the first five innings, the sixth proved to be his undoing.
Jose Altuve singled and pushed the A's defense by going from first to third on Carlos Correa's hit to center. Altuve was safe, and with the throw from Jaycob Brugman going to third base, Correa snuck in at second base.
That meant Evan Gattis' soft single to center scored two runs. Gattis himself would score later in the inning on a Jake Marisnick single as Houston added a third run.
Manaea had needed just 70 pitches for the first five innings. He needed 29 in the sixth inning alone, after which he was finished.
Oakland put men on base against Fiers with some regularity, but as too often has been the case in 2017, the batters couldn't capitalize. The first, fourth and fifth innings all ended with the A's grounding into a double play, so that Fiers' control issues _ three walks and two hit batters _ didn't hold him back much.
The A's finally chased him in the seventh after Yonder Alonso doubled and Ryan Healy walked. But with lefty Tony Sipp pitching, Brugman grounded out. The Astros went to ex-A's reliever Luke Gregerson at that point and Oakland countered with pinch-hitter Stephen Vogt. The A's got a run on a grounder, but it wasn't the breakthrough bash Oakland needed.
The Astros added a security run in the eighth against Santiago Casilla, who allowed two hits and a sacrifice fly and another on Carlos Correa's 14th homer in the ninth.
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