The Astros began a 4 game set today against the Oak— oh wait, sorry. Just the A’s. On the mound tonight stood Astros hurler Jason Alexander(not that one), who was in for the start after being called up from Sugar Land.(You know, seeing as though the Astros still lead the league in IL players with 17) The A’s had Luis Severino(4-11, 4.95 ERA) in to pitch tonight.
First Pitch: 7:10PM
After giving up a leadoff single to Max Schuemann to lead off the top of the 1st inning, Jason Alexander retired Kurtz,
Rooker, and Soderstrom in order (Flyout, K, Groundout) and got the Astros offense to the batter’s box with the game still tied 0-0. For a fleeting moment, just maybe, there was belief that the Astros would finally break the now franchise record 14 game streak of allowing opponents to score first against them. Nope. Not tonight. (I did say fleeting)
Because, after Taylor Trammell led off the bottom of the 1st against Luis Severino with a single of his own to right field, Altuve, Caratini, and Walker went down in order just like the A’s hitters did. This was the last time that the game would be tied 0-0.
After a Lawrence Butler walk in the top of the 2nd, he then went from 1st to 3rd on a steal attempt and throwing error by Caratini. He then was scored via sac-fly by Carlos Cortes during the next at bat, giving the A’s the 1-0 lead. According to Brian McTaggart via X, this is now 15 consecutive games, dating back to July 4th, where the Astros have allowed opposing teams to score first. After a Gio Urshela single in the next at bat, Alexander then got Luis Urías to ground out to end the inning.
Severino then worked a quick bottom of the 2nd when he retired Cam Smith, Jon Singleton, and Mauricio Dubón in 1-2-3 order. The A’s then scored a couple more runs in the top of the 4th after loading the bases against Alexander, when Max Schuemann grounded into a force out to score Cortes and Nick Kurtz smacked a line drive double to Cam Smith in right field to score Gio Urshela, making it 3-0. Thankfully, Max Schuemann ended the inning for the A’s when he was thrown out at home via a 9-4-2 throw started by Cam Smith. Great play, but not a good night on the mound at this point for Jason.
But really, what was there to expect? Next, the Astros are going to tell us that Patrick Warburton and/or Michael RIchards will be called up from Corpus Christi soon for a 3-game set against (insert team here).
I digress. Back to the action. Another sac-fly scored an A’s runner in the top of the 5th when Shea Langaliers drove in Brent Rooker after an out to Trammell in center field. 4-0 A’s. This was followed up by a pop out by Butler and Alexander K’ing up Cortes to end the inning. The Astros offense was still ice cold up until this point, hitting 3 singles, 4 ground outs (including GIDP) and striking out 4 times.
Alexander then had arguably his second worst inning of the night in the top of the 6th when he gave up a homer to Luis Urías to make it 5-0 A’s, followed by a Kurtz double and a wild pitch against Brent Rooker, advancing Kurtz to 3rd. Nothing more happened in the inning, but Jason’s night was finally done, as he was replaced by Héctor Neris to start the 7th. He ended with a stat line of 11H, 5 ER, 2BB, 3K, 1 HR and quite possibly a swift sending down after the game. (I don’t want to be too tough on him, it’s not his fault that there’s an entire village on IL and that the offense gave him 0 through 6+ innings)
After Matthews, Short, and Trammell went down in order again in the 6th, the offense finally found a pulse in the 7th, when Altuve was scored via him being HBP, Caratini torching a double to right field, and Christian Walker hitting a sac-fly:
#Athletics 5 @ #Astros 1 [B7-1o]:
— MLB Run Videos (@MLBRBIs) July 25, 2025
Christian Walker sac flys: fly ball to RF
Hit: 93.0mph, 280ft, 48°, .004xBA
Pitch: 95.3mph Cutter (RHP L.Severino)#Athletics #BuiltForThis #MLB pic.twitter.com/1q304JnJQU
It was then 5-1 Astros. Not much, but they were finally on the board. Walker’s sac-fly also allowed Caratini to move to 3rd, which he then quickly scored from via a Cam Smith ground out. 5-2 A’s.
Jon Singleton then flew out to left field on the very next pitch to end the inning.
Héctor Neris then completed a two-inning outing in dramatic fashion with a strike out/throw out of Luis Urías and Gio Urshela respectively to end the top of the 8th. However, that would be the last Astros highlight of the night, as they only were able to muster another couple of singles in the bottom of the 8th(Matthews, Trammell), and a Cam Smith walk in the 9th. The game ended in the 9th with Mason Miller getting Jon Singleton to fly out to Lawrence Butler in center field to finish the Astros off 5-2.
This loss snaps both a 4-game win streak by the Astros and a 4-game losing streak by the A’s. It also drops the Astros 1.0 behind the Blue Jays for best record in the AL.
In the 2nd of the four game set, RHP Ryan Gusto(6-3, 4.46 ERA) will get the start tomorrow at Daikin Park vs. the A’s against LHP Jeffrey Springs(8-7, 4.18 ERA). First pitch will be at 7:10pm.
More from crawfishboxes.com:
- Verlander Regression? Astros Trending: Week in Review, June 28-July4.
- Astros Prospect Report: July 5th, 2018
- Game Recap: Never Settle, Never Quit. Springer, Gurriel Get the Clutch Hit.
- Houston Astros Sprinting through Stretch of Weaker Competition
- Astros Trade: James Hoyt to Cleveland, Tommy DeJuneas to Houston
- Astros Prospect Report: July 4th, 2018
- The Astros Have the Best Bullpen in Baseball.
