Athletics 9, Astros 7
In perhaps the most exciting game of this great series, the Oakland Athletics fended off elimination by defeating the Houston Astros 9-7. A game-tying home run was a part of Chad Pinder‘s three-hit, four-RBI day which led the A’s to victory.
A Back And Forth Thriller
The scoring started in the top of the first when Tommy La Stella went deep to give Oakland an early 1-0 lead. The lead was short-lived, as Jose Altuve would send a shot of his own into the seats. Michael Brantley and Alex Bregman followed the homer with back to back singles. Carlos Correa hit a ground ball and beat out the double play to bring in a run. It was a 2-1 Astros lead after one inning. The very next half-inning Mark Canha answered, blasting a game-tying home run. Matt Olson hit yet another solo blast in the fourth. In the fifth, Marcus Semien hit a fourth solo shot off Jose Urquidy, which gave the A’s a 4-2 lead. This long ball chased Urquidy from the game.
The Astros responded in a big way with a five-run fifth inning. Aledmys Diaz, who started at DH over Josh Reddick, hit a game-tying two-run shot. After George Springer was hit by a pitch and an Altuve infield single, Brantley singled in the go-ahead run. Bregman followed with a hard hit RBI double. The final run of the inning was driven in by Kyle Tucker, giving the Astros a 7-4 lead.
Pinder brought the A’s back when he hit a game-tying three-run home run in the seventh. The go-ahead run crossed the plate in the eighth when Sean Murphy hit a fly ball to right for a sac fly. Finally, Pinder added an insurance run on a sac fly. The Athletics brought in Liam Hendriks, who pitched three scoreless innings to close out the Astros.
On To Game Four
The A’s will need another great offensive performance if they want to force a Game Five. The Athletics will turn to Frankie Montas (0-0 4.50). The Astros have not announced a starter for Game Four, but with Zack Greinke dealing with arm issues, the likeliest option is Cristian Javier (0-0 0.00). The rookie pitched one inning of relief in Game One.
Main Image
Embed from Getty Images
