HOUSTON (AP) — Matt Olson’s tiebreaking three-run homer in the eighth inning lifted the Oakland Athletics to a 6-2 win over Houston Astros on Friday night.
The victory comes after the Astros beat the A’s five times in this young season and is just the second win overall for Oakland this year.
The game was tied at 1-all when Mark Canha opened the eighth with a single to left field off Bryan Abreu (1-1). Jed Lowrie, a former Astro who hit a solo shot in the fourth, followed with a single with one out.
Olson then sent a slider from Blake Taylor into the second deck in right field to put the A’s up 4-1. Olson admired his soaring shot for a couple of seconds before trotting around the bases and returning to a dugout that was celebrating just its fifth homer of the season.
“Hopefully it sparks (us) a little bit,” Olson said. “It was good to feel a little emotion and adrenaline in the dugout after such a tough start. Hopefully we can ride this into tomorrow and hopefully turn this around.”
Canha added a two-run homer in the ninth to pad the lead.
A’s starter Sean Manaea yielded six hits and one run in six innings. The lefty had a much better outing than in his start against Houston last week when he gave up five runs in 4 2/3 innings of a 9-2 loss.
“It definitely felt like I needed to go out there and prove something,” he said. “So it was nice to go out there and pitch a good game.”
Yusmeiro Petit (2-0) allowed one hit in a scoreless seventh for the win.
Houston starter Lance McCullers allowed two hits and one run with six strikeouts in five innings.
“We made a couple of mistakes and they capitalized on them,” Houston manager Dusty Baker said. “That was the ball game.”
The victory was a much-needed boost for a team that has struggled mightily this…
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