The Oakland A’s final series against the Houston Astros meant little to nothing for both teams involved. With most of the regulars resting, an opportunity for the bench-riders to get a handful of at-bats, the A’s rallied in the ninth inning on home runs from Seth Brown and Khris Davis.
But Lou Trivino gave up a lead-off single to Jason Castro, then Yordan Alvarez doubled off the wall in left-center to put the game-winning run on third with less than two outs. Pinch hitter Yuli Gurriel hit a single into shallow left field to score and send the Oakland A’s to a walk-off loss, 7-6, on Sunday afternoon.
The A’s down three runs entering the ninth inning, Brown hit his second home run of the game — a two-run shot off Zack Greinke (who pitched in relief coming off injury) to make it 6-5. With an out separating the end of the regular season Davis hit his first home run since returning to the A’s this year off Blake Taylor to tie the game. Davis’s home run was hit 105 mph off the bat and 409 feet over the Crawford Boxes
Matt Chapman, Josh Harrison and Starling Marte were among the regular starters who took the final day off to rest their banged-up bodies. Matt Olson insisted on playing, perhaps to try for his 40th home run of the year — he finished the season with 39 home runs. That means Harrison and Marte, free agents in the offseason traded to Oakland at the deadline, may have played their final games as A’s.
Mark Canha played and was hit by a pitch for a 27th time this season. That ties him with Seattle’s Ty France for most in the majors. Of course, Canha may have played his final game for his hometown team. The San Jose native who’s been with Oakland since the organization selected him in the 2015 Rule 5 draft will be a free agent in the offseason.
A handful of seasons ended on a high. Tony Kemp rounded out his best career season with an opposite field home run and a sacrifice fly to score another of the A’s three runs to show for it on the final day. In the series against his former team, Kemp went 7-for-10 with four RBI.
Kemp entered the final game batting .345 with 14 walks and two hit by pitches over his last 41 games. A stretch that also included 88 consecutive at-bats without a strikeout that ended last Saturday.
Brown got the A’s on the board first with his 19th home run of the year off Astros starter Jose Urquidey.
Cole Irvin rounded out his first complete season as a main starter with a six-inning outing. Irvin allowed three home runs, the first a solo blast to Chas McCormick that erased the A’s early one-run lead. The second to Jake Meyers, to erase the lead Kemp earned with his home run. The third was from Kyle Tucker with Jose Altuve aboard to give the Astros a lead.
Altuve’s second double of the game came off Sergio Romo in the seventh inning and scored another run for the Astros. Carlos Correa added a home run off reliever Domingo Acevedo in the eighth.
