Lawrence Butler hit one of the Athletics’ five home runs and narrowly missed hitting for the cycle. He also made a superb throw from right field to cut down a runner at home plate as Oakland defeated the Houston Astros 8-2 on Tuesday night.
Brent Rooker, Seth Brown, Zack Gelof, and Shea Langeliers also homered to help the A’s hand the AL West-leading Astros their second consecutive loss.
Butler started strong with a triple in the first inning and scored on Rooker’s two-run homer. He followed up with a home run in the third inning and later doubled in another run in the sixth. In July alone, Butler has hit eight home runs and leads the majors with 24 RBIs this month.
“I’m just focused on having good at-bats, hitting the ball hard, and doing my part for the team,” Butler said. “I want to keep playing my game and contributing.”
Needing only a single to achieve Oakland’s first cycle since 2007, Butler instead drew a walk against Rafael Montero, which drew some displeasure from the crowd of 5,896 at the Oakland Coliseum.
“This kid has been on a roll lately,” A’s manager Mark Kotsay commented. “This is the level of baseball I expected from him when we called him up last year. Now we’re seeing it consistently.”
Victor Caratini and Jeremy Peña homered for the Astros. Osvaldo Bido (2-1) struck out six over five innings in his second career start and first since May 8, allowing only one run on four hits.
“To face a tough Astros lineup and pitch like he did, it was impressive,” Kotsay said. “He did a great job tonight.”
The A’s, who lead the majors in double plays turned, added another highlight when Butler caught a fly ball and threw out Alex Bregman at home, preventing a run from scoring.
