For the second game of a doubleheader Saturday, the Astros rotation switched from off-speed finesse pitcher to their consistent dart thrower. The A's had their familiar struggles against Zack Greinke in Game 2, losing 6-3.
The A's lost, but they were responsible for some baseball oddities dictated by a lineup shakeup.
With Marcus Semien a late scratch, Ramon Laureano batted atop the lineup and promptly hit a leadoff home run. His fourth home run of the season snapped Greinke's 45 2/3-inning streak without allowing a home run. It was also the first leadoff homer Greinke allowed since Manuel Margot took him deep on April 14, 2019 _ a rarity that has happened just four other times in Greinke's 17-year career.
The Semien scratch also had Matt Chapman play at shortstop for the first time in his big league career. Chapman's home run off Greinke in the fourth inning came off the bat at 115.9 mph. Not only is that the hardest hit ball an A's player has hit in the Statcast era (since 2015), it's the hardest hit ball by a shortstop in the Statcast era, too. If Chapman had been playing third base, it would have been the hardest hit home run by a third baseman this year (San Diego's Manny Machado hit one 115.7). But it wouldn't have been the hardest hit by a third baseman in the Statcast era; Joey Gallo hit a home run 117.3 mph in 2017.
The A's won the oddity battle, but they lost the game. Tommy La Stella made his A's debut and flashed a bit of his value. With runners in scoring position and one out in the fifth inning, La Stella grounded out, Vimael Machin scored. That's the kind of situational hitting the A's will need to utilize more down the stretch.
Frankie Montas struggled with his mechanics again and looked to be overthrowing some of his pitches. The Astros tacked five runs on him before the third inning on Tucker's bases-loaded triple and George Springer's two-run home run.
He exited after completing just 3 1/3 innings with five earned runs, five strikeouts and two walks.
