Athletics at Houston Astros

To say the season hasn’t gone the way the Athletics hoped would be an understatement, but that doesn’t mean they'll stop battling. Down two headed into the eighth against the Astros on Saturday night, the A’s fight showed through. Jacob Lopez pitched six strong innings in his third quality start of the season and the Athletics scored three runs in the eighth to rally for a 4-3 win over the Astros at Daikin Park, snapping a five-game losing streak. Trailing 3-1 heading into the eighth, Jeff McNeil led off with a single and Zack Gelof walked. After pinch-hitter Alika Williams bunted them over, McNeil scored on a wild pitch and Gelof scored on a Lawrence Butler RBI single. Tommy White followed with a double before Jonah Heim gave the A’s a 4-3 lead with an RBI groundout. “Obviously, McNeil leading off with a hit, the Gelof at-bat was the one that really led to the inning,” A’s manager Mark Kotsay said. “Alika coming off the bench and laying down a good bunt. The wild pitch obviously helped, but Lawrence’s at-bat, putting the ball in play really hard, I just thought the momentum of the inning really carried through. Each at-bat, each guy going up there did their job. Executing the at-bats and giving us the lead.” The A's improved to 6-63 this season when trailing after seven innings. “We never give up,” Butler said. “Comeback wins have been the name of the game for us this year. We feel like no lead is safe, so just keep going out there, putting up good at-bats, keep grinding and trying to get the next man up.” Donovan Walton led off the third inning with a Statcast-projected 422-foot solo home run to center to open the night’s scoring.