SERIES PREVIEW
Astros-A's series breakdown: A lot is at stake late in the season
Sep 7, 2020, 10:13 am
SERIES PREVIEW
The Astros are heading North with their tails between their legs, suffering a four game sweep at the hands of the Angels. It was a particularly gut-wrenching series, with the bullpen factoring heavily in each loss. It doesn't seem fortunes will get any easier, as the 'Stros now have to square off in a five game series (yes, you read that right) with the AL West leading Oakland Athletics.
PROBABLE PITCHERS
Mon. Sept. 7 - HOU: Cristian Javier (4-1, 3.35) vs. OAK: Frankie Montas (2-3, 6.06)
Tues. Sept. 8 - HOU: Zack Greinke (3-0, 2.91) vs. OAK: Mike Minor (0-5, 5.94)
Tues. Sept. 8 - HOU: TBD vs. OAK: Chris Bassitt (2-2, 3.72)
Wed. Sept. 9 - HOU: Luis Garcia (0-0, 2.08) vs. OAK: Jesus Luzardo (2-2, 4.23)
Thurs. Sept. 10 - HOU: Jose Urquidy (0-0, 4.91) vs. OAK: Sean Manaea (3-2, 5.09)
STORYLINES
PREDICTIONS
It's baseball, who knows, but the Astros come out hungry and take four of five, leaving the Bay Area with a 1/2 game lead in the AL West.
Gunnar Henderson and Luis Vázquez homered and Trevor Rogers worked seven strong innings as the Baltimore Orioles beat the Houston Astros 3-2 on Sunday to avoid a series sweep.
Rogers (7-2) allowed five hits and three walks and struck out nine. The 27-year-old left-hander moved past two Hall of Famers with his 1.40 ERA through the first 13 starts of a season. Hoyt Wilhelm set the club record with a 1.50 ERA in 1959, and was followed by Jim Palmer’s 1.55 ERA in 1975.Keegan Akin struck out three in 1 2/3 scoreless innings for his third save.
Henderson hit his 16th homer, a solo shot off Spencer Arrighetti (1-5) in the first, to give Baltimore the lead. Ryan Mountcastle had an RBI single in the sixth and Vázquez made it 3-1 in the seventh with his first big league homer.
Arrighetti gave up two runs on six hits in 5 2/3 innings. John Rooney relieved Arrighetti in his debut and allowed a run in 1 1/3 innings. Craig Kimbrel struck out two in a scoreless inning in his first game with the Astros.
Jeremy Peña had an RBI single in the third and Victor Caratini drove in a run with a sacrifice fly in the eighth for Houston.
Akin entered with one out and the bases loaded in the seventh and allowed only the sac fly to preserve the lead.
Arrighetti retired 15 batters in a row following his four-hit first inning.
Tomoyuki Sugano (10-5, 3.97) gets the start for the Orioles in a home series opener against the Red Sox on Monday.
The Astros turn to Hunter Brown (10-5, 2.36) to lead off a series against the Rockies on Tuesday.