Houston slips another game back in the division

Oakland secures series victory with walk-off win over Astros

Astros Carlos Correa
Photo by Elsa/Getty Images

Astros Carlos Correa

With a win in the second game of Tuesday's doubleheader, the Astros were finally able to get their losing streak behind them. That provided them some momentum to take into Wednesday's game, the fourth of this five-game set in Oakland. Here's how the game went:

Final Score: A's 3, Astros 2.

Record: 22-22, second in the AL West.

Winning pitcher: Liam Hendricks (3-0, 1.40 ERA).

Losing pitcher: Ryan Pressly (1-2, 4.11 ERA).

Garcia with a terrific first MLB start

After an impressive major-league debut in relief on September 4th, where he went 4.1 innings while allowing one run to the Angels, Luis Garcia made his first MLB start on Wednesday in a big game against the division-leading A's. He didn't allow a baserunner until the bottom of the third when he allowed a leadoff walk but would erase that by retiring the next three batters.

The only hit he allowed was a two-out single in the fourth inning, but he again would work around it by retiring the next batter to end the inning. His third and final baserunner allowed was a two-out walk in the bottom of the fifth, but he would retire t1he next batter to finish five full innings, reaching his pitch limit for the night, but leaving in position for the win. Garcia's final line: 5.0 IP, 1 H 0 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 4 K, 0 HR, 86 P.

Houston gets two big homers

Garcia left in position for the win thanks to George Springer way back in the first inning. He started the game in the first at-bat with a leadoff solo home run to give the Astros an immediate 1-0 lead. Yuli Gurriel doubled that lead in the top of the sixth with a two-out solo shot of his own, making it a 2-0 game.

Walks in the seventh bite the Astros

Andre Scrubb took over for Garcia to start the bottom of the sixth and would face three batters, getting two outs while allowing a double, before Houston would go to their next reliever, Cionel Perez. He would give up a two-out walk before stranding both runners to end the sixth. Perez returned for the seventh, getting an out before issuing another walk, prompting another call to the pen.

Josh James would make his return after spending time on the IL and walked the first batter he faced. That would prove costly, as after getting the second out, the A's would hit a fly ball to left field, just short enough to cause Kyle Tucker to slide and misplay the ball. It would bounce away into the large bullpen area in Oakland Coliseum, tying the game by providing enough time for both walked batters to score.

Oakland walks it off to secure the series win

After the Astros went down scoreless quickly in the top of the inning, Enoli Paredes tried to keep it tied in the bottom of the eighth. He did so, working around a two-out double to send the 2-2 game to the ninth. Houston again was unable to score in the top of the ninth, as they would go to their closer Ryan Pressly to try and force extra innings.

Instead, Pressly would allow the walk-off to Oakland, walking the first batter, hitting another, before a two-out walk-off RBI to secure the series win for Oakland, who has won three games of this five-game set.

Up Next: The fifth and final game of this series will be on Thursday at 2:40 PM Central. Jose Urquidy (0-0, 4.91 ERA) will make his second start in 2020 after returning to the Astros last weekend, while Sean Manaea (3-2, 5.09 ERA) will make another start for the A's.

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The Angels beat the Astros, 4-1. Photo by Alex Slitz/Getty Images.

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.

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