Houston-Oakland Preview
Astros head to Oakland for a showdown with 1st place A's
Aug 7, 2020, 11:55 am
Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images
PROBABLE STARTERS
Fri. Aug 7: Zack Greinke (0-0, 5.00 ERA) vs. Chris Bassitt (1-0, 0.93)
Sat. Aug 8: Framber Valdez (0-1, 2.53) vs. Frankie Montas (1-1, 2.25)
Sun. Aug 9: Cristian Javier (1-0, 1.42) vs. Jesus Luzardo (0-0, 2.31)
STORYLINES
- Who reigns supreme in the AL West? The Astros have been the clear and dominant power in the AL West for three seasons, with the Athletics being a consistent second fiddle. Well, 20% of the season is gone, and the A's have a 2.5 game lead on Houston. A bad series for Houston will give them quite a hole to dig out of.
- Is George Springer okay? Springer left the game against the Diamondbacks on Thursday night with a wrist injury. Springer was starting to find himself at the plate, so it would be unfortunate if he misses time due to injury and has to find his timing again.
- Who is Ryan Pressly? Ryan Pressly has only been used twice, only faced nine hitters, allowed five hits to those nine hitters, walked two others, and only recorded two outs. He was responsible for the loss on Thursday night, failing to record an out in his first save opportunity of the year. With Roberto Osuna on the shelf, the Astros need vintage Pressly, not this Pressly.
- A new ace in town? Athletics phenom Jesus Luzardo made his starting pitching debut earlier this week, twirling five innings of scoreless baseball against the Texas Rangers. If Luzardo, the first Peruvian-born big leaguer in MLB history, is the pitcher that experts think he is, then Oakland might have the best pitching staff in baseball.
PREDICTIONS
The Athletics represent another formidable opponent for the Astros, as they return to divisional play. All three pitching matchups are even, as Greinke looks to build on his second start versus the reliable Chris Bassitt, Valdez looks to prove he's a long term rotation option versus the electric Frankie Montas, and two up-and-coming arms square off on Sunday. Ultimately, it will be up to which offense can wreak more havoc. Right now, that offense is Oakland. The A's will take two of three.
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Oswald Peraza hit a two-run single in the ninth inning to help the Los Angeles Angels snap a three-game losing skid by beating the Houston Astros 4-1 on Saturday night.
Peraza entered the game as a defensive replacement in the seventh inning and hit a bases-loaded fly ball to deep right field that eluded the outstretched glove of Cam Smith. It was the fourth straight hit off Astros closer Bryan Abreu (3-4), who had not allowed a run in his previous 12 appearances.
The Angels third run of the ninth inning scored when Mike Trout walked with the bases loaded.
Kyle Hendricks allowed one run while scattering seven hits over six innings. He held the Astros to 1 for 8 with runners in scoring position, the one hit coming on Jesús Sánchez’s third-inning infield single that scored Jeremy Peña.
Reid Detmers worked around a leadoff walk to keep the Astros scoreless in the seventh, and José Fermin (3-2) retired the side in order in the eighth before Kenley Jansen worked a scoreless ninth to earn his 24th save.
Houston’s Spencer Arrighetti struck out a season-high eight batters over 6 1/3 innings. The only hit he allowed was Zach Neto’s third-inning solo home run.
Yordan Alvarez had two hits for the Astros, who remained three games ahead of Seattle for first place in the AL West.
Key moment
Peraza’s two-run single to deep right field that broke a 1-1 tie in the ninth.
Key Stat
Opponents were 5 for 44 against Abreu in August before he allowed four straight hits in the ninth.
Up next
Astros RHP Hunter Brown (10-6, 2.37 ERA) faces RHP José Soriano (9-9, 3.85) when the series continues Sunday.