Oakland A’s reliever Mason Miller delivers to the Houston Astros line up in the top of the ninth inning at the Oakland Coliseum on Sat May 25, 2024 (AP News photo)
Saturday, May 25, 2024
Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum
Oakland, California
Houston Astros 1 (23-29)
Oakland Athletics 3 (22-32)
Win: JP Sears (4-3)
Loss: Spencer Arrighetti (2-5)
Save: Mason Miller (10)
Time: 2:24
Attendance: 10,617
By Stephen Ruderman
OAKLAND–JP Sears gave the A’s six solid innings, as they finally beat the Astros for the first time this season with a 3-1 win on a beautiful Saturday afternoon at the Oakland Coliseum.
Following an unbelievable 11-inning marathon win over the Colorado Rockies on Thursday, the A’s were stymied by Justin Verlander, as they lost the series opener last night. JP Sears would make the start on this Saturday afternoon as Oakland looked to win their first game against the Astros this season.
Sears hit Jose Altuve with a sweeper to start the game, but he immediately got Kyle Tucker to ground into a double play. Yordan Alvarez thenl lol grounded out to short to end the inning.
Spencer Arrighetti made the start for Houston, and the A’s were ready for him. Abraham Toro singled on a ground ball up the middle and into center field, and JJ Bleday walked. Brent Rooker then pulled a double down the left field line to knock on both Toro and Bleday and give the A’s a 2-0 lead.
“For Brent, he’s continuing off the year he had last year,” said Manager Mark Kotsay. “He’s becoming a more complete hitter. He’s reduced some of the strikeouts, [his] two-strike approach is better, and he’s putting the ball in play more often. That’s one of the first balls in three years of managing that I’ve seen go by [Alex] Bregman down the line, so you don’t see that happen that often. It was a good sign for us to get on the board…..our offense hasn’t been able to get us a lead early, and thus having those two runs to go out and finish a game off was nice.”
Both pitchers threw 1-2-3 innings in the second. Mauricio Dubon singled for Houston and stole second base with two outs in the top of the third inning, but Sears got Altuve to ground out to short to end the inning. Arrighetti, meanwhile, pitched another 1-2-3 inning in the bottom of the third.
Seth Brown reached on an infield hit and sole second to start the bottom of the fourth. Kyle McCann then walked, and the A’s had runners at first and second with nobody out. However, the A’s were unable to extend their lead, as Arrighetti proceeded to strike out the side to end the inning.
Things took a bit of a weird turn in the top of the sixth when Dubon hit a ground ball to short, and Max Schuemann threw the ball over the head of first-baseman Tyler Soderstrom. The ball bounced up against the netting behind the camera well at the end of the Astros’ dugout, and the umpires awarded Dubon second base.
“From my viewpoint in the dugout, I couldn’t tell if the ball hit the pad [in front of the camera well], or if it had glanced over the pad and then hit back behind the camera well and bounced back out,” said Kotsay. “I thought it hit the pad, came out front, hit the security guard and was still in play.”
Kotsay had the play reviewed after a conversation with Home Plate Umpire Jeremie Rehak, but replays confirmed that the ball indeed bounced off the netting.
“Once [the ball] goes over that green pad [in front of the camera well], the ground rules are it’s out of play,” said Kotsay. “[Jeremie] tried to convince me of that, but I had to go with my replay guy, and we got it wrong. It’s on me.”
Dubon advanced to third on a fly out to right by Altuve. Kyle Tucker knocked in Dubon with a sacrifice fly to put the Astros on the board. Sears got through the rest of the inning without any further damage, and he would be done after giving up just a run and two hits over six innings. His strong performance was in large part due to his slider and sweeper.
“[My] slider was good today,” said Sears. “I threw some good fastballs in [to] kinda the keep guys off the slider, and I also threw some good sinkers to get some quick outs there in the middle innings…..I [also] had a lot of good defense behind me…..it was a good efficient day [for me].”
“Through April, we had all five guys in the rotation, and in May, we’ve lost four of the five,” said Kotsay. “JP’s coming off a year where he made all 32 [starts], and I know that he’s determined to do that again. That’s his mindset, so it’s nice to see him go out and have a good start, and we’re gonna continue to just lean on him.”
Sears was pulled despite the fact that he had only thrown 68 pitches.
“Our bullpen’s been amazing,” said Kotsay. “At that point, we’ve had tons of success with Adams, Erceg and Miller. We had it lined up for our leverage jobs, so JP did his job…..I have a ton of confidence in those three guys lining up and getting the job done.”
“I’m just trying to focus on being ready to go every five days and just whatever I can do to get my body and my arm feeling good,” said Sears. “[What I’m] learning this year is when to take my days as far as being lighter on my body, and when to do a little bit more. I also think [Pitching Coach Scott Emerson] and [Kotsay] have done a job of just trying to use me as much as they can, but maybe not push as much quite so early. I feel like I definitely could’ve gone more today, but that’s just how the game is…..I know that those guys there coming in behind me have got some good stuff, so I felt all the confidence in the world [in them].”
The A’s still had their 2-1 lead going to the bottom of the sixth. Brown and McCann both singled to start the inning, and that ended the day for Arrighetti. Astros Manager Joe Espata brought in Tayler Scott. Soderstrom struck out swinging for the first out, and Zack Gelof got Brown to third on a fly out to center. It was then up to Daz Cameron, who knocked Brown in with a base-hit to left to make it 3-1.
Austin Adams came in for Sears to start the seventh. Adams gave up a base-hit to Jeremy Peña. However, Adams started experiencing neck tightness and had to leave the game. Kotsay brought in Lucas Erceg, who got through the inning unscathed.
Peter Mushinski pitched a scoreless bottom of the seventh for Houston. Erceg stayed in for the top of the eighth and gave up a leadoff single to Dubon. Erceg also threw a wild pitch, and after striking Altuve out looking, he was done. Scott Alexander came in and got through the remainder of the inning.
Seth Martinez came in and threw a scoreless bottom of the eighth for the Astros.
Closer Mason Miller came in for the ninth and did his thing, as he struck out the side to close it out in his first outing following his rough 11th inning on Thursday against the Rockies.
“It was a great day for Mason to get back out, [and] he wanted to get back out,” said Kotsay. “For him to go show that he’s got a bounce back in him and that he wasn’t fazed by the results of Thursday, it was a great sign from a young closer.”
The A’s have their first win of the year over the Astros, as they improve to 22-32. They will now have a chance to take the series with a win Sunday. Starting pitcher for the Astros RHP Ronel Blanco (4-0, 2.09) for the A’s RHP Aaron Brooks (0-1, 4.15). First pitch will be at 1:07 p.m.
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