HOUSTON (AP) — Seth Brown homered and drove in four runs, Cole Irvin overcame a rocky start and the Oakland Athletics beat the Houston Astros 8-5 on Saturday night.
Tony Kemp had three hits and scored three runs as Oakland won for the fourth time in 15 games this month, and snapped Houston's six-game winning streak a day after the Astros clinched a postseason berth.
Brown crushed an 80mph slider off Astros starter José Urquidy in the fifth inning 432 feet to the right-field upper deck for a three-run homer to give the A's a 6-4 lead. It was Brown’s 23rd of the season. In his next at-bat, he doubled off Will Smith in the seventh to extend the lead to 7-4.
Urquidy (13-7) allowed six runs and seven hits in six innings while striking out six. Houston's magic number to clinch the AL West remained at four.
One day after Yordan Alvarez hit three homers, the Astros hit three in an inning, pouncing on Irvin during a four-run first. Alvarez also homered again, hitting No. 37 off A.J. Puk in the eighth.
Oakland scored first, opening the game with three straight singles. Sean Murphy scored Kemp to put the A’s up 1-0 early.
Aledmys Díaz started the bottom of the first with a shot to left field. Two batters later, Kyle Tucker and Trey Mancini went back-to-back with homers to right. The Astros batted around in the first inning, spraying six hits and jumping to a 4-1 lead.
Irvin (9-11) settled down after the first inning and ultimately allowing the four runs and seven hits in seven innings. He struck out one and finished with an efficient 73 pitches — 54 for strikes. Domingo Acevedo pitched a scoreless ninth for his second save.
Kemp scored again in the third on a sacrifice fly by Vimael Machín, and Chad Pinder’s solo homer in the fourth cut Houston’s early lead to 4-3. Oakland added another run in the ninth when Machín singled to drive in Kemp.
UP NEXT
Athletics: Ken Waldichuk (0-1, 5.40) starts Sunday for Oakland, making his fourth MLB start and still seeking his first victory.
Astros: Framber Valdez (15-5, 2.50) will take the mound for Houston. He pitched a complete-game in a 7-0 win over Detroit in his last outing on Sept. 12.
