*Photo from Yahoo! Sports*
The middle of August doesn't seem to be slowing down the powerful Houston Astros offense. Alex Bregman homered, Jose Altuve drove in a pair of runs, and the Astros defeated the Oakland Athletics with a 6-3 victory on Sunday afternoon in Houston.
With the win, the Astros keep building their lead on the top seed in the AL, improving to 75-41 after the weekend. The win marks their 7th in 10 games, including 4 wins in a row. Bregman's 3 RBI's and Altuve's two are the big reason why they won on Sunday.
Bregman said of the offense after the game that "The guys did a really good job of preparing and getting ready to go this series and competed every single pitch. We have to do that if we expect to win. I think we did a really good job of locking in and focusing and playing hard."
Getting the scoring started in the first inning was Bregman, who cranked a two run home run in the first inning to make it 2-0 right away. One inning later, in the second, it was Altuve who delivered, ripping a two run double to left center field. Christian Vazquez added an RBI single in the 6th, and Bregman hit an RBI double in the 7th, making it a 6-0 game.
When the 8th inning came around, Nick Allen got the A's on the scoreboard, blasting a solo home run to make it a 6-1 game. In the 9th, a groundout from Jonah Bride scored Elvis Andrus to make it a 6-2 game. Tony Kemp then added an RBI single, scoring Cal Stevenson to make it a 6-3 game, but the comeback attempt ended there.
Vazquez, who drove in his first run with the Astros, said of his transition that "It's been very good. It was fun to see them from another now dugout, and now I’m here with them and it’s always exciting to see this team playing and I’m happy to be here."
It was Cristian Javier who got the start for the Astros, pitching 6 shutout innings while allowing one hit and 3 walks, notching 6 strikeouts. Hector Neris and Will Smith were the first two out of the bullpen, pitching one inning each before Rafael Montero and Ryan Pressly combined to finish the 9th inning.
Starting for Oakland was Cole Irvin, who didn't fare very well in his start. Irvin allowed 5 runs on 8 hits and one walk, lasting 6 innings. Austin Pruitt was the only reliever to make an appearance, allowing one run in two innings of work.
Athletics manager Mark Kotsay said that "August is that time of year where you get some dog days and have to grind through it. We haven’t played terrible baseball. We’ve faced some good teams. We’ve been in most of the games. We just have to find a way to grind it out and win."
Up next, the Astros start a series with the Chicago White Sox on Monday night, with Jose Urquidy getting the start. The Athletics take on the division rival Texas Rangers on Monday, with James Kaprielian to get the start.
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