Jacob Lopez kept the Athletics in it long enough for the bats to finish the job.
Behind six sharp innings from Lopez, the A’s erased a late deficit with a three-run eighth and came away with a 4-3 win over the Astros on Saturday night in Houston, snapping a five-game skid.
The game turned when Oakland trailed 3-1 entering the eighth. Jeff McNeil started the rally with a single, Zack Gelof drew a walk, and after pinch hitter Alika Williams moved both runners up with a bunt, the A’s started cashing in. McNeil scored on a wild pitch, Gelof came home on a Lawrence Butler RBI single, and Tommy White later added a double before Jonah Heim pushed across the go-ahead run with an RBI groundout.
Oakland had drawn first blood in the third when Donovan Walton launched a Statcast-projected 422-foot solo homer to center.
Houston answered in the fourth on Yainer Diaz’s RBI double, then grabbed a 3-1 lead in the seventh on a solo shot from Daulton Varsho and an RBI single by Jeremy Peña.
Lopez was the difference before the late rally ever got started. He gave up one run on three hits and matched a season high with nine strikeouts across six innings, continuing a stretch in which he has allowed three runs or fewer in eight straight outings.
The left-hander leaned heavily on sliders and four-seam fastballs, throwing 40 sliders and getting 11 whiffs on 23 swings, while mixing in 28 four-seamers that produced four whiffs. Four of his strikeouts came on the slider and five on the four-seamer.
In Other News...
A's Finally Have A Reason For Real Optimism Right Now
For much of the summer, the Athletics have been hunting for signs that a young core and a few emerging arms might finally give the rebuild some traction. Lawrence Butler has supplied one of the most encouraging ones since the break, turning a rough first half into a far more dangerous second act at the plate, while Jacob Lopez has quietly become the most reliable starter in the rotation and Elvis Alvarado has helped steady the back end of the bullpen.
What makes that trio matter is how different the paths have been. Butlers power has started to play again, Lopez has been missing bats at a rate that gives Oakland a chance every time he takes the mound, and Alvarado has given the As another late-inning arm they can trust. The question now is whether those gains are the start of something more lasting, or just the latest brief run of promise in a season that has asked for patience all along. [Read more 🡒]
Athletics Final Month Suddenly Matters For A Few Future Core Pieces
With the final month arriving and a playoff push all but off the table, the Athletics are suddenly in evaluation mode, and a few young pieces are getting a chance to matter beyond the standings. Alika Williams has been part of that shuffle in the infield, while Lawrence Butler has started to show the kind of bounce-back the club wants to see after his injury. For a team sitting at 50-80 with 32 games left, these are the kinds of late-season looks that can shape what the roster starts to resemble next year and into 2027.
The bullpen picture is starting to carry some of the same future-facing stakes, too, with Elvis Alvarado drawing more attention as the season winds down. Oakland is trying to sort out which arms can be trusted to hold down meaningful innings when the games matter again, and Alvarados recent run has put him squarely in that conversation. The last stretch may not change where the Athletics finish, but it could say plenty about which names belong in the core picture when the organization turns the page. [Read more 🡒]
As Prospect Report Has One Pitching Bright Spot And One Growing Concern
The As farm system got a clean pitching line in Lansing on a night when weather cut the game short, and Jorge Marcheco was the reason. The left-hander worked 5 2/3 scoreless innings to lead Lansing to a shutout win over Peoria, giving Oaklands minor league depth at least one encouraging box score to point to while the rest of the affiliates continued through a busy slate.
Elsewhere, the results were less tidy, with Las Vegas falling to Albuquerque, Midland losing to Corpus Christi and Stockton dropping its game against Fresno. Those lines matter because the organization is still sorting through who is trending up and who needs to steady things, and the contrast between Marchecos outing and some of the other pitching performances is starting to feel like the sort of weekly split that can shape how the As evaluate the next wave. [Read more 🡒]