A's Beat Astros, Cut Houston's Edge for Home Field in Playoffs
HOUSTON (AP) -- Matt Olson and Chad Pinder each homered and the Oakland Athletics beat Houston 8-6 Friday night, cutting the Astros' edge for home-field advantage in the AL playoffs.
Houston leads the White Sox by one game for home field in their best-of-five Division Series matchup next week. The AL West champion Astros also own the tiebreaker after going 5-2 against AL Central champion Chicago this season.
Pinder hit a solo shot in the fourth and Olson had a two-run shot in the sixth to increase Oakland's advantage to 4-1.
Pinder added an RBI grounder as the A's scored four times in the eighth for an 8-2 lead.
Sean Manaea (11-10) permitted two runs on seven hits with six strikeouts in 5 2/3 innings as the A's ended a three-game losing streak.
The left-hander became the fifth pitcher in Oakland history with at least five consecutive winning seasons, joining Tim Hudson, Catfish Hunter, Dave Stewart and Dennis Eckersley.
Lou Trivino got four outs for his 22nd save. He allowed a leadoff double in the ninth to Yordan Alvarez and walked Carlos Correa, but recovered to strike out Jose Altuve and induce groundouts by Michael Brantley and Jake Meyers to end it.
The Astros scored four times in the eighth. Meyers hit an RBI single and Jason Castro followed with a three-run homer.
Aledmys Díaz gave the Astros a 1-0 lead with an RBI single in the first. Jose Siri, who led off with a triple and scored on the single, exited in the second with a right hand injury.
Framber Valdez (11-6) yielded four runs on four hits with seven strikeouts in five innings.
TRAINER'S ROOM
A's: OF Ramón Laureano had successful core injury surgery on Thursday, Oakland announced Friday. Laureano will return to Arizona to resume his rehabilitation, with the expectation he will be ready for spring training, Oakland said. … INF Vimael Machín was placed on the 10-day injured list with a stomach illness that is not COVID-19 related. INF Pete Kozma was selected from Triple-A Las Vegas to take Machín's spot on the roster.
Astros: Manager Dusty Baker got a good report on RHP Zack Greinke's rehab assignment on Thursday, but said the team is going to see how he feels before deciding the next step. Greinke threw two scoreless innings for Triple-A Sugar Land on Thursday
UP NEXT
RHP Jake Odorizzi (6-7, 4.14) will start Saturday opposite Oakland RHP Paul Blackburn (1-3, 4.71) in the second of the three-game series.
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