Led by Kyle Tucker’s fourth homer, the Astros’ offense tried to make it back, but Oakland’s bullpen held the lead.
After winning their first five games of the season against the Athletics, the Astros have lost two in a row to Oakland. On Friday, Houston hitters were silenced by right-hander Frankie Montás over six innings and, even though they enjoyed some late magic, they lost 7-3 and fell to second place in the AL West.
Righty José Urquidy took the loss and was outpitched by Montás, who went six innings of six-hit, one-run ball and struck out five. On the other hand, Urquidy pitched six episodes as well, but allowed seven hits and four earned. He didn’t walk anyone and registered seven punchouts, though he allowed a two-run homer to Ramón Laureano in the fifth.
The Mexican was helped by Carlos Correa’s glove with a wonderful catch near center field. Take a look at this gem…
Urquidy, who got 12 whiffs combined with his fastball and slider, hasn’t been able to beat the A’s so far in his three-season career. He is now 0-2, 3.80 after four lifetime starts vs Oakland.
The Astros began the seventh frame down 6-0 and struck back with three runs of their own, thanks to a solo shot from Kyle Tucker —his fourth of the season—, an RBI double by José Altuve, and an RBI triple from Michael Brantley, his first since 2019.
Despite he’s off to a rough start in terms of getting hits consistently (.189 BAA), Tucker is leading the team in home runs (4) and runs batted in (11). So far, five of his seven hits have gone for extrabases.
Going with Altuve, he was the only Astro to get more than one hit. The second baseman recorded two doubles in four at-bats and keeps carrying a hot bat. Altuve’s hitting for a .351 average and owns a .918 OPS to begin the campaign.
With today’s game, Altuve surpassed César Cedeño with 462 multi-hit games and now has 463 in his career, the fourth-highest mark in the Astros franchise. The top three spots are owned by Craig Biggio (841), Jeff Bagwell (622), and José Cruz (541).
Back to pitching, Brandon Bielak and Ryne Stanek followed Urquidy and surrendered two and one runs, respectively. Ryan Pressly finished the game for the Astros with another scoreless appearance. He’s off to a good start of four innings without runs and four strikeouts.
The Astros will have a day off on Sunday and are slated to begin a three-game series against the soft-hitting Detroit Tigers at Minute Maid Park. On Monday (8:10 pm ET), Zack Greinke will face rookie Casey Mize.
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