Posted: 07/22/2013 08:44:12 PM PDT
Updated: 07/22/2013 08:45:08 PM PDT
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HOUSTON -- The A's went against the odds in the eighth inning Monday but came out of it looking good in rallying to a 4-3 win over Houston, the club's 10th win without a loss against the Astros this season.
Right-handed-hitter Nate Freiman, a .125 hitter against right-handed pitching, opened the eighth with a single off Astros right-hander Hector Ambriz.
Two batters later, the left-handed Josh Reddick, a .197 hitter against left-handed pitching, crushed Houston pitcher Wesley Wright for a two-run homer as the A's erased what had been an early 3-0 lead for the Astros.
Oakland pitching, betrayed early in the game by three errors and one misplay by the A's defense, rallied from the fourth inning on. Starter Tommy Milone retired the final seven batters he faced, then relievers Ryan Cook, Sean Doolittle and Grant Balfour each contributed a scoreless inning. Cook got the win and Balfour got the save, his 26th in 26 tries this season and his 44th in succession dating to last year.
The A's were in a hole mostly of their own making when they entered the fourth inning down 3-0 against Astros left-handed starter Dallas Keuchel.
Third baseman Josh Donaldson let a ball hit by Justin Maxwell get through him for what was charitably ruled a double to open the second against Milone. Maxwell stole third and scored on a grounder that was thrown away at first by shortstop Jed Lowrie, although Maxwell was going to score, error or no error.
An
inning later, Jonathan Villar's first big league hit and a steal set up an RBI single by former A's first baseman Chris Carter. And Carter came around to score when a pop-up off the bat of Maxwell fell between Coco Crisp, Josh Reddick and Grant Green, second baseman Green getting charged with the error, the third of the game for the A's to that point.
Milone, pitching for the first time since July 10 as manager Bob Melvin used the All-Star break to lighten the left-hander's pitching load, gave up two hits in the fourth inning, but rallied to retire the final seven batters he faced before turning the ball over to the bullpen with the A's down 3-2.
For the most part the A's left runners all over south Texas in the first five innings against Keuchel, stranding runners at second base in the second and at third base in the fourth and fifth. Oakland didn't break through until the fifth, when it loaded the bases with one out and Green, looking for his first big league hit, settled for his first big league RBI, a sacrifice fly that got the A's on the scoreboard.
However, Oakland left another runner stranded in scoring position to end the inning when Seth Smith struck out.
One out into the sixth, Chris Young, a career .404 hitter in Minute Maid Park, homered to left field to get the A's to within a run at 3-2. Young, who had tripled and had been stranded at third in the fifth inning, had eight homers and 30 RBIs in 22 career games in Minute Maid Park.
While the first suspensions from the Biogenesis performing-enhancing drug probe came down Monday, the A's don't expect to see starter Bartolo Colon's name join that of the Brewers' Ryan Braun if further suspensions come down. Colon, 13-3, has already served a 50-game suspension for his involvement with PEDs, and the A's don't see him being penalized twice for the same offense. Yoenis Cespedes was missing from the A's lineup for the fourth consecutive game because of a sore left wrist, but he took swings off a batting tee Monday and is scheduled to take batting practice before Tuesday's game. When asked if he believe Cespedes would be in the Tuesday lineup, manager Bob Melvin said. "I don't know yet about tomorrow. We'll have to wait and see." Brett Anderson threw an assortment of 35 pitches off a mound and is due to throw a bullpen session Wednesday.
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