OAKLAND, Calif. _ After a nightmarish beginning to the game, Oakland A's ace Sonny Gray showed why contenders will covet him in next month's upcoming trade deadline.
Despite coming into the night with no wins and a 5.87 ERA since May 24, Gray's electric stuff has placed him at the forefront of trade rumors this past week, with Tuesday's opponent, the Houston Astros, reportedly at the top of the list of teams looking to acquire his services.
Houston managed to bat around in a five-run first inning that was catapulted by George Springer's 21st home run of the season, a leadoff homer to begin the night, but Gray responded with four shutout innings of two-hit ball and even struck out the side in his final inning of work after the rough start to keep the A's in the game of what was an eventual 8-4 loss.
As each inning went along, the A's slowly began to claw their way back from the early five-run deficit.
Oakland immediately got a run back in the first after Khris Davis brought home Jed Lowrie from first base on a booming double off the right field wall that nearly left the yard. Chad Pinder then made it 5-2 in the third with a towering solo shot into the left-field bleachers that traveled 448 feet for his ninth home run of the year.
After another run on a sacrifice fly from Ryon Healy in the fourth, Rajai Davis brought the A's within one run at 5-4 in the seventh after leading off the inning with a double and eventually scoring on a single from Jaycob Brugman.
Liam Hendriks was looking to escape the eighth unscathed as he recorded two outs after allowing the first two runners of the inning to reach base, but Carlos Correa gave the Astros some breathing room with a single to center that drove in both Alex Bregman and Jake Marisnick to extend their lead to 7-4.
After spending the last seven years in the minor leagues, 30-year-old UC Berkeley product Michael Brady took the mound in the ninth for his major league debut. The first batter he faced was Carlos Beltran, who welcomed Brady to the show with a home run to make it 8-4 Astros.
The Astros continue to have their way with the A's as they improved to 6-1 against Oakland this season.
