OAKLAND — The Athletics temporarily put aside their problems with the A.L. West-leading Houston Astros Saturday with a 3-2 win at the Coliseum.
The A’s had just four hits, but took advantage of some remarkable fourth-inning good fortune against Framber Valdez. Meanwhile, A’s starter Zach Logue (3-4) and five relievers shut down the Houston offense before a crowd of 10,058.
“That’s a grind,” Athletics manager Mark Kotsay said. “We took advantage of their mistakes and played a good, clean game to come out on top.”
The Athletics (29-57) had lost all four games to Houston (55-29) this season and six in a row dating back to last season. The last time they faced Valdez (8-4) on May 30, they lost 5-1 on a complete-game two-hitter at the Coliseum.
Logue was done after five innings in favor of A.J. Puk, giving up two runs in the second inning and retiring the last 11 men he faced. He threw 75 pitches, 46 of them strikes, with one walk and a pair of strikeouts. Puk, Edwin Acevedo, Zach Jackson, Sam Moll and Lou Trivino finished up for the A’s, with Trivino getting his seventh save.
Trivino gave up a walk and a single with one out, but retired Aledmys Diaz on an infield fly and pinch hitter J.J. Matijevic on a soft liner to center to send the crowd home happy.
A dribbler in front of the plate, a passed ball and a wild pitch in the fourth inning accounted for all the A’s scoring in one of the more punchless rallies you’ll ever witness.
Sean Murphy opened the inning with a single, and after Chad Pinder popped up, Elvis Andrus walked and Stephen Piscotty singled to left to load the bases.
That’s when the fun started. For the A’s, anyway.
Seth Brown, getting a rare start against a left-hander after the trade of Christian Bethancourt to Tampa Bay, had singled sharply earlier in the game against Valdez. This time, he chopped one in front of the plate. Catcher Martin Maldonado fielded the ball, but Murphy was able to avoid his tag without going out of the baseline to score the A’s first run.
“I was doing my best not to get tagged,” Murphy said. “Doing anything to get to the plate. There wasn’t much thought. Kind of like playing pickle when you’re a kid. I was pretty sure I got it. There was no point in going back. I think I barely got the back of it.”
just how we drew it up pic.twitter.com/3zWy8fzBmx
— Oakland A's (@Athletics) July 9, 2022
The agony was only beginning for Maldonado, who mishandled a pitch off the heel of his glove with Sheldon Neuse at the plate for a passed ball to bring home Andrus. Then Valdez uncorked a wild pitch that brought in Piscotty, with Maldonado nailing Brown at third attempting to advance.
“I think might be the first time I’ve ever seen a hitter start an at-bat with the bases loaded and not leave the batter’s box and have the bases empty,” Kotsay said.
It was equally strange for Houston manager Dusty Baker.
“They scored three runs and none of them went 10 feet,” Baker said. “Baseball’s something.”
The Astros scored twice against Logue in the second inning, with Chas McCormick singled to right to bring home Yuli Gurriel, and Diaz, who had doubled, scoring on an infield out.
“When I had second and third one out, I told myself to just limit the damage,” Logue said. “Got a weak ground ball that Maldonado hit to first, kind of stinks that it scored a run, but I did a decent job limiting the damage.”
Logue, acquired in the Matt Chapman deal, was on his third stint with the big club and was told to sharpen his command during his last trip to Las Vegas.
He came back throwing more fastballs and getting ahead in the count.
“I throw a lot more fastballs probably than most guys who throw 90, 91,” Logue said. “I think I can get away with it a little more with the way it moves and the life on it. Just tried to trust that a little more. We moved it around and were able to have some success with it.”
NOTABLE
— The top five hitters in the Houston batting order — Jose Altuve, Mauricio Dubon, Yordan Alvarez, Alex Bregman and Kyle Tucker — were a combined 1-for-16. The only hit belonged to Altuve on a bloop that Ramon Laureano couldn’t catch up with in centerfield.
— The Athletics’ bullpen conga line went exactly as planned after Logue’s exit. Puk and Acevedo gave up no hits in the sixth and seventh. Jackson got the first two outs in the eighth, when Moll retiring Valdez for the third out in that inning. Trivino gave up a walk and a hit but has picked up saves in five of his last six outings and has given up one earned run in his last seven games in re-establishing himself as the closer.
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