The Houston Astros came into the opener of their season-ending four-game set needing wins, and they got one in loud fashion. Five home runs powered a 7-5 victory over the Athletics, with rookie outfielder Lucas Spence launching three of them in a game that kept swinging back and forth before Houston finally pulled away.
The Astros struck first in the second inning when Spence connected for his first major league home run off Mason Barnett, helping Houston build a 3-0 lead. The A’s had a quick chance to answer right away.
Jeff McNeil doubled to start the bottom half, Zack Gelof walked, and suddenly the tying run was on base with nobody out. But Peter Lambert shut that down in a hurry, striking out the next three hitters to escape without damage.
Oakland did not stay quiet for long. In the third, Shea Langeliers kept an at-bat alive by winning an ABS challenge, then singled with two outs to bring McNeil back to the plate.
McNeil unloaded on a three-run homer to right center, his ninth of the season, and the game flipped on its head. Gelof followed immediately with a solo shot to center, his 21st, giving the A’s a 4-3 lead.
Donovan Walton then added the Athletics’ fourth straight two-out hit, which sent Lambert to the showers after just 2 2/3 innings. Bryan King came in and finally stopped the rally.
Oakland had another chance to add to the cushion in the fourth when Jonah Heim doubled with one out, but King stranded him at second by striking out the next two batters.
Houston answered in the sixth. Isaac Paredes tied it with his 24th homer of the season, a solo drive to left on a fastball down the middle.
Barnett recovered to finish six innings, a career high, and struck out eight while walking two. He only gave up the two home runs, but those mistakes were costly.
The Astros then took control in the seventh. With one out, Spence hit his second homer of the night off Scott Blewett to put Houston back ahead 5-4. The A’s bullpen kept struggling from there, while rookie right-hander Miguel Ullola gave Houston three scoreless innings out of the bullpen and held the Oakland offense in check.
Lawrence Butler came close to changing the game in the seventh, ripping a double off the right-field fence after just missing a game-tying homer. But Ullola left the tying run stranded by getting Langeliers to fly out.
Christian Walker gave Houston a bigger cushion in the eighth with his 27th home run, a two-out blast that made it 6-4. Oakland answered again when Gelof hit his second homer of the night in the bottom of the inning, a solo shot off Bennet Sousa that cut the deficit to one. On a night when he received the Catfish Hunter Award, Gelof recorded his second career multi-home run game.
The A’s still had life after Bryan Abreu came in and got Heim to end the inning with the tying run at second. Tommy White then delivered another three-pitch pinch-hit at-bat that went nowhere.
Houston put the game away in the ninth when Elvis Alvarado allowed Spence’s third homer of the night, making it the fifth Astros homer of the game and stretching the lead back to two. That shot made Spence the third player in MLB history to hit his first three career home runs in the same game.
Oakland did get one last push in the bottom of the ninth when Butler picked up his third hit to bring the tying run to the plate. But the game ended on the next pitch, with Abreu getting Langeliers to ground into his second double play of the night.
The Athletics will try again Friday, with Jacob Lopez set to start for the Green and Gold and Hunter Brown scheduled to go for Houston.
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