Kyle McCann hit a two-run homer, Brent Rooker had two hits and two RBIs, and the Oakland Athletics defeated the Houston Astros 5-4 on Wednesday night.
The Astros have now lost three games in a row, and their lead in the AL West has decreased to 3 1/2 games over Seattle with 17 games remaining.
Houston also lost All-Star second baseman Jose Altuve, who left the game after the fifth inning due to discomfort on his right side. After a swing in his at-bat in the fifth, he called over manager Joe Espada and the trainer. Altuve finished the at-bat by striking out on a bunt attempt but did not return for the sixth inning.
Espada mentioned that he was “not really concerned” about the injury.
“He got fooled on the pitch, and he kind of felt something,” Espada said. “Out of precaution, he decided to bunt with two strikes just to make sure he was fine. Right now, day-to-day.”
Espada and Altuve both said they would wait until Thursday to see how Altuve feels.
“I’m not really worried,” Altuve said. “Maybe I just wake up tomorrow, and I’m good to go, so I don’t really want to take any positions tonight because normally, with an injury you wait until the next day and see how you feel.”
McCann’s two-run homer came off Hunter Brown (11-8), and Rooker added an RBI single off Caleb Ferguson as the A’s scored three runs to take a 5-3 lead in the sixth inning. Rooker also had an RBI single in a two-run third inning that tied the game at 2-2.
“These guys are playing with a lot of confidence,” Oakland manager Mark Kotsay said. “They all believe in each other, they pick each other up and come in here and take the first two games of this series when these guys are competing to hold this division, it says a lot about the character of that group and momentum they have.”
The Astros took a 2-0 lead in the second inning with a sacrifice fly by Jake Meyers and an RBI single by Mauricio Dubón. Yordan Alvarez scored on a Max Schuemann error in the third inning to give the Astros a 3-2 lead.
