A’s beat Astros for 1st series sweep of season
Stephen Piscotty #25 of the Oakland Athletics slides in safe at home plate ahead of the tag by catcher Korey Lee #38 of the Houston Astros to score on a single by Skye Bolt #11 of the Oakland Athletics in the bottom of the seventh inning at RingCentral Coliseum on July 27, 2022 in Oakland, California. (Photo by Lachlan Cunningham/Getty Images)
2022.07.27 – Cole Irvin allowed four hits over seven innings and the Oakland Athletics beat the Houston Astros 4-2 on Wednesday for their first winning sweep.
Oakland, an AL-worst 38-63, won three in a row from AL West-leading Houston (64-35) and has won six of its last eight against the Astros.
Houston was swept in a series for the first time since last Sept. 24-26, also at Oakland. Yordan Álvarez hit his 29th homer.
“Any time you can sweep a team at this level, it’s always a good thing,” Irvin said.
Stephen Vogt and Stephen Piscotty homered on back-to-back fastballs in the second from Cristian Javier (6-6). Tony Kemp had three hits, including an RBI double.
Javier allowed three runs and five hits in five innings. He is 0-3 with a 5.79 ERA in four starts since pitching seven hitless innings at Yankee Stadium on June 25 and allowing one hit over seven innings against the Los Angeles Angels six days later. His season ERA has risen from 2.57 to 3.26 during the four-game span.
Irvin (6-7) struck out four and walked one, retiring 12 in a row. He was 4-1 with a 1.85 ERA in five starts during July. While Irvin is 4-2 with a 1.73 ERA at home, he is 2-5 with a 4.79 ERA on the road.
2022.07.27 (Oakland Athletics vs. Houston Astros) See video
Jonah Bride #77 of the Oakland Athletics runs past Mauricio Dubon #14 of the Houston Astros to safely steal second base in the bottom of the fifth inning at RingCentral Coliseum on July 27, 2022 in Oakland, California.
2022.07.27 (Oakland Athletics vs. Houston Astros) See video
2022.07.27 (Oakland Athletics vs. Houston Astros) See video
“You just can’t say enough about the way he’s been pitching,” Vogt said. “He does such a good job keeping everybody off balance. He works quick, and hitters don’t like that.”
A.J. Puk pitched a 1-2-3 ninth for his second save, finishing a five-hitter.
Jake Meyers cut Houston’s deficit with an RBI triple in the fifth, but Kemp doubled in a run in the bottom half.
Álvarez closed the Astros to 3-2 with his home run in the sixth. Skye Bolt greeted Phil Maton with an RBI single in the seventh.
“You’ve got to be ready to play,” Astros third baseman Alex Bregman said. “We didn’t play our best baseball the last three days, but we’ll go home and look forward to doing that tomorrow.”
2022.07.27 (Where the 2022 A’s season went wrong ? ) See video
Stephen Curry, right, and Ayesha Curry threw out the first pitches before Wednesday’s Astros-A’s game at the Coliseum.
Carlos Avila Gonzalez/The Chronicle
2022.07.27 (Where the 2022 A’s season went wrong ? ) See video
2022.07.27 (Where the 2022 A’s season went wrong ? ) See video
AT THE CAGE
NBA Finals MVP Stephen Curry of Golden State took batting practice and threw ceremonial first pitches with his wife, Ayesha. Curry’s Eat. Learn. Play. Foundation teamed with the A’s to host roughly 1,000 children from local community organizations at the game. Batting against Oakland manager Mark Kotsay, the right-handed hitting Curry swung through a few pitches but then made regular contact, hitting several fly balls and grounders to left field.
Curry and his wife, Ayesha, came to the Oakland Athletics’ game to celebrate the third anniversary of their foundation, Eat. Learn. Play. They brought more than 1,000 Oakland children enrolled in city camps along with them. And they turned the usually lifeless Coliseum into an exciting, inspiring place for an afternoon.
“I haven’t been here, inside the Coliseum, in about six years,” the Golden State Warriors’ guard said. “But I was next door for a J. Cole concert last fall.”
That was at Curry’s former office, what is now known as Oakland Arena. And though he now plies his trade, and has won another championship, across the bay, Curry remains committed to Oakland. Rooted in Oakland, to borrow an otherwise trite phrase.
Recently, the foundation has been focused on the “learn” pillar. The Curry’s are trying to address the literacy gap in Oakland — only 15.4% of Black and 12.5% of Latino students are reading at grade level — that has been exacerbated by the pandemic.
“We’re trying to make a dent there,” Curry said.
They have built over 150 “Little Town Libraries” — tiny free libraries that have been placed around Oakland. They launched a $1 million challenge for Oakland teachers: The foundation has funded more than 800 literacy projects to the tune of $850,000. They created an ELP bus that comes to events, promoting reading, along with nutrition and fitness.
At the end of the afternoon, the campers all got to run the bases. And as they left, each camper received a backpack full of goodies from Eat. Learn. Play.
But they walked out of the Coliseum with something even better: a lesson about a sports superstar who can do amazing things on the basketball court.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Astros: RHP Lance McCullers Jr. (right flexor tendon strain) was scheduled to make his second rehab start Wednesday, pitching for Triple-A Sugar Land at Oklahoma City.
Athletics: INF Jed Lowrie (sprained left shoulder) played five innings at first base Tuesday for Triple-A Las Vegas and was scheduled to serve as DH for the entire game Wednesday. … RHP Dany Jimenez (strained right shoulder) is to begin a rehab assignment Friday. … 1B Seth Brown (paternity leave) is expected to rejoin the team Friday in Chicago against the White Sox. His wife, Brittaney, gave birth to a son on Tuesday.
UP NEXT
Astros: RHP José Urquidy (9-4, 3.93 ERA) is to start Thursday’s opener of a four-game series against visiting Seattle, which goes with RHP Logan Gilbert (10-4, 2.77)
Athletics: RHP James Kaprielian (1-5, 4.74) starts Friday at the White Sox, who are slated to pitch RHP Lance Lynn (1-3, 6.43).
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Athletics fall to Astros with four-game sweep
2021.04.04 – Mark Canha doubled, tripled and scored twice for the Athletics, who are 0-4 for their season opener, and the Houston Astros beat Oakland 9-2 on Sunday for the four-game sweep.