Astros blow big lead in loss to last-place A’s, sink into tie atop AL West

In a disappointing homestand full of bad losses, the Houston Astros might have saved the worst for last.

The Astros blew a six-run lead to the Athletics, a team that entered the day with the worst record in baseball, and lost 7-6 Sunday at Daikin Park. The defeat dropped Houston into a tie with the Texas Rangers atop the American League West.

It was a sour capper to a stretch of nine straight home games against the Seattle Mariners, Los Angeles Angels and Athletics — all sub-.500 teams — in which the Astros went just 3-6. 

It looked like Houston would have a joyous Monday day off ahead of a trip through New York when it took an early 6-0 lead Sunday. Then, the fifth inning happened. 

Cristian Javier cruised through four innings, striking out five of the first eight batters he faced, but things quickly turned disastrous in the fifth. After allowing a leadoff single and a walk, Javier got a mound visit from pitching coach Josh Miller. Four pitches later, he gave up a 402-foot home run to No. 9 hitter Brian Serven that cut the Astros’ lead in half.

Omar López, filling in for manager Joe Espada who was dealing with a family emergency, gave Javier the hook, but reliever Enyel De Los Santos was even worse. De Los Santos surrendered a single to the first batter he faced before getting a strikeout for the inning’s first out. After plunking Zack Gelof, De Los Santos gave up a two-run double to Lawrence Butler, then a game-tying single to Tommy White. When De Los Santos was pulled, he was booed by the home crowd.

After Kai-Wei Teng quieted things by getting out of the inning and pitching a scoreless sixth, Athletics designated hitter Max Muncy delivered a 409-foot home run to left-center off reliever Steven Okert to give his team its first lead of the day.

Before Sunday, the Astros had averaged less than three runs per game in the homestand against the Angels and Athletics, the two teams with the worst records in the league. In the series finale, the offense wasn’t the problem, putting up three runs in the first inning after Jeremy Peña and Yordan Alvarez led off with back-to-back singles and Isaac Paredes drove in a run with a sacrifice fly. Jose Altuve, hitting cleanup, cleared the bases with a 370-foot home run into the Crawford Boxes.

Altuve came up in another big spot in the next inning and drew a two-out bases loaded walk to make it 4-0.

The Astros added a couple unearned runs in the fourth after Peña reached safely on an air-mailed throw by Athletics shortstop Darell Hernaiz. Paredes made it hurt when he delivered a two-out home run down the left-field line for a 6-0 lead.

However, the offense wasn’t able to recover after the pitching staff gave up that advantage.

Yordan Alvarez was issued three intentional walks, bumping his total to 28 for the year, which breaks Jeff Bagwell’s single-season franchise record. Alvarez tied Bagwell’s record for intentional walks in a single game, set in 1999.

The intentional walk didn’t pay off in the second inning, because the Athletics followed it by unintentionally walking both Isaac Paredes and Jose Altuve, the last of which brought in a run. It did work in the sixth when Alvarez was issued a free pass after a Jeremy Peña double and the Athletics retired both Paredes and Altuve.

The third intentional walk was the most eye-raising since first base was occupied and it moved the tying run into scoring position in the eighth inning. It paid off though, because Paredes flied out to end the threat.

Bagwell set the franchise record in a year in which he hit 43 home runs and drove in a career-best 135 runs. Alvarez currently is hitting .320 with 36 home runs and 90 RBIs. Alvarez has a ways to go to catch Bagwell on the career intentional walks list. Bagwell has the franchise record with 155. Alvarez has 70 for his career. 

Altuve had a rough first four months of the season, but he’s found his swing in August.

For the month, the Astros second baseman is hitting .313 (21-for-67), including going 1-for-4 with a three-run homer Sunday. He had a chance for another big hit in the sixth inning when he came up with two runners on and two outs. He ripped a line drive to third that left his bat at 100.5 mph, but it was snagged by Gelof.

The recent surge has bumped Altuve’s average up to .245 with a .708 OPS, both of which would be the worst of his career aside from the 2020 season shortened by the pandemic. 

Former Pearland High School star Brady Basso got to pitch in his hometown, but his start on a bullpen day wasn’t a pleasant experience Basso three hits on four runs in the first inning before handing over the game to the rest of his bullpen.

Basso graduated from Pearland in 2016 and was a key part of the Oilers’ 2014 state semifinal team as a sophomore. That team also had current Boston Red Sox catcher Connor Wong playing shorstop.

Basso, who was a 16th-round pick out of Oklahoma State in 2019, has spent parts of three seasons in the big leagues with the Athletics, compiling a 2-2 record with a 4.50 ERA. Basso’s father Mike played catcher at University of Houston and spent eight seasons in the minor leagues.