*Photo from the Press Democrat*
This game turned into the early season version of the home run derby. Jose Abreu homered, Yordan Alvarez homered twice, and the Houston Astros routed the Oakland Athletics 10-1 on Sunday afternoon in Oakland.
With the win, the Astros secured a 3 game sweep of the Athletics and have won 8 of 10 to improve to 31-21 on the season. All 10 of the Astros runs in this game were scored with the home run, including Abreu hitting his first home run in a Houston uniform.
Houston manager Dusty Baker said of the rout that "It was still a close game and I’m glad we got those runs in the seventh, eighth and ninth. We finally hit some home runs today, which feels good. It was a good day for us."
Alvarez started the scoring in the top of the first, hitting a solo home run to make it a 1-0 lead. Ryan Noda tied it for the A's in the bottom of the inning with a solo shot of his own, tying the score 1-1. It stayed that way until the 4th inning. Jake Meyers put the Astros back ahead, blasting a 3 run home run to make it a 4-1 game.
In the 7th inning, Chas McCormick and Jose Altuve each hit solo home runs, extending the Astros lead to a 6-1 margin. Abreu had a memorable first Astros homer in the 8th to make it 7-1, sprinting around the bases and sliding into the Astros dugout while being mobbed by teammates. Jeremy Pena hit a two run homer in the 9th, followed by an Alvarez solo homer, making it a 10-1 score.
McCormick said of Abreu's first homer "That was pretty awesome. Him sprinting around the bases, him sprinting across home plate, sliding into the dugout, I didn't expect that. The smile on his face made the whole game that much better. You can see the energy in our dugout, and the energy from him, and that's what it's all about."
Cristian Javier got the start for the Astros, allowing one run on 4 hits and 3 walks in 5 innings pitched, getting the win. The Astros bullpen then threw 4 shutout innings, with Parker Mushinski, Phil Maton, Ryne Stanek, and Rafael Montero all throwing an inning each.
Ken Waldichuk started as an opener for the Athletics, allowing one run while pitching the first inning. Luis Medina pitched the next 5 1/3 innings and got tagged for 5 runs on 7 hits and 3 walks to get the loss. Sam Long pitched the next 1 2/3 innings and Garrett Acton threw one, allowing 3 runs.
Oakland manager Mark Kotsay said that "We’ve got to learn from what we’re going through. If we don’t learn and get better, then we’re not doing our jobs here. Especially with guys like Medina and Acton, in order to show progress, you’ve got to learn from these mistakes. This is the big leagues, and they’re getting a lesson right now."
Both teams play their next series at home starting on Monday. JP France starts for the Astros against the Minnesota Twins, while the Athletics start Paul Blackburn against the Atlanta Braves.
Comments
Post a Comment