Athletics beat Astros in extra innings 4-3

Back in the win column

Winners again. The Athletics broke up their small two-game losing streak with a victory over the Astros, beating their division rival by a final of 4-3 in extra innings in the kickoff to the road trip.

Sears with the spot start? No matter

Yesterday the scheduled starter for game one of this series was Osvaldo Bido. We now know that he’s been dealing with some wrist tendonitis and ultimately required a trip to the IL. The club elected to just move up the rotation a day instead of plugging in a new arm. That means the original middle game starter JP Sears was on the mound for tonight’s contest against the playoff-bound Astros.

Sears has had an up and down year here in his sophomore season but put together one of his best starts of 2024 tonight in Houston. Over the game’s first six innings Sears held down a potent Astros lineup to just four hits and a pair of walks keeping the Astros off the board for the entirety of his outing.

Oakland offense strikes first

The Athletics got to work quickly in this game as two singles in the bottom of the first inning gave them a chance at an early run. Starting catcher Shea Langeliers brought in the first run of the game on a sac fly. The A’s had an early lead, but not a big one. Enter second baseman Zack Gelof to lead off the top of the sixth:

Suddenly our lead was doubled! Unfortunately that wasn’t a long-lasting situation as Houston tied it up in the seventh against Tyler Ferguson. Though the club escaped the inning it felt like this game was destined for overtime and lo and behold it was. Over the next few innings the clubs would trade zeros while giving up nothing to the other team. Finally Oakland broke through in the twelfth inning with essentially three consecutive bunts...

...Taking the lead, putting a slight damper on the Astros’ playoff aspirations. They’re still in the lead in the AL West, but they remain fighting for one of those two first-round byes.

Oakland would finish this one off with a quick 1-2-3 bottom of the twelfth, securing their 63rd win of the year while beginning their road trip on a winning note.

The club takes their mini winning streak into tomorrow’s contest against these same Astros, Joey Estes gets the early start while Houston will rock with righty Hunter Brown.

Let’s take a pair from them!