Photo credit Michael Wyke
With a chance to gain ground in the AL West, the Astros continued to struggle on the mound and at the plate.
Meanwhile, the pitching arm of Chris Bassitt coupled with Tony Kemp’s bat gave the A’s a bit of breathing room, shutting out Houston, 6-0 on Monday night at RingCentral Coliseum.
The Oakland A’s handed the Astros its fifth consecutive loss.
In the bottom of the second inning, Kemp drove a ball to the wall in rightfield, scoring Robbie Grossman who led off the inning with a single and stole second to give the A’s all it needed to cushion its lead at four and 1/2 games over the second-place Astros.
Later in the second inning, Kemp was thrown out attempting to steal third base. But Sean Murphy followed with a home run to straightaway center to build a 2-0 lead. Then, Vimael Machin walked but Astros starter Cristian Javier got out of the inning when Tommy La Stella flew out to leftfield.
Bassitt (3-2) got the win, pitching seven shutout innings, striking out four, and scattered five hits. His dominant evening was supported by its defense and the ability to get out of innings without any damage.
For the Astros (21-20), who stranded ten base runners, dropped its fifth consecutive decision leaving it to search for answers.
Oakland (24-14) chased Javier from the game after five innings of work. Control was more of a problem for Javier, who yielded two runs on three hits, struck out three, and walked four.
Cionel Perez came on in relief and induced two ground ball outs before surrendering a single to Stephen Piscotty.
Right after, Manager Dusty Baker changed pitchers, calling for Andre Scrubb. Scrubb closed out the sixth inning when Chad Pinder flew out.
In the seventh inning, Scrubb walked Murphy, struck out Machin. Then, Tommy La Stella slapped a single, Murphy moved to third and Ramon Laureano’s run-scoring sac fly scored Murphy. That increase the A’s lead, 3-0.
The bottom of the eighth watched Oakland put to rest any thoughts of a comeback by adding three runs. All coming off the arm of Cy Sneed who relieved Scrubb. Sneed gave up a double, two singles, and two walks which led to a 6-0 lead.
Oakland’s Jake Diekman pitched the eighth, giving up a walk and fellow reliever Lou Trivino shut the door in the ninth inning with three total pitches to seal the deal for the A’s.