OAKLAND — Houston’s Josh Reddick has seen enough walkoff Oakland wins from his time with the Athletics that he knows no lead is necessarily safe.
Even after his go-ahead double in the ninth inning Friday night.
Jed Lowrie singled home the winning run in the bottom half of the inning after Boog Powell’s tying home run, and the A’s snapped the AL West-leading Astros’ seven-game winning streak with a 9-8 victory.
“It’s a frustrating loss for us, that’s really one way to describe it,” Reddick said. “Put up nine runs but those guys just hung around, had big hits in the right spot and that’s what you got to do to win the game. We had some big hits as well. But they just got it in the last at-bat and ended up being on top. We’ve got to put it behind us and come back out here tomorrow.”
Reddick hit a go-ahead double with two outs in the ninth inning after an earlier two-run homer and another run-scoring double, but the typically sharp Astros bullpen couldn’t come through in the bottom half. Lowrie notched his second game-ending hit this season and fifth of his career facing Ken Giles (1-3).
“That’s going to be the key, is just continuing to have those quality at-bats and not give any away,” Lowrie said. “It’s easy to kind of deflate as an offense after giving up a run late like that, but we have guys who grind it out.”
Marcus Semien hit a tying grand slam in the seventh for Oakland.
Jose Altuve and Yuli Gurriel also had two-run homers for the Astros on a night starter Collin McHugh exited after just three innings because of a fingernail injury.
Reddick doubled in the third, homered in the fifth and doubled again against winning pitcher Blake Treinen (2-4).
Michael Feliz returned from the disabled list and relieved McHugh, whose right middle fingernail pulled apart from the skin.
The Astros had their 10-game winning streak at the Coliseum snapped — their longest unbeaten run at any road ballpark since taking 11 in a row at Cincinnati from 2007-09.
“We hadn’t lost here in a long time. We’d played really well recently, a couple chances we lost in big moments,” Astros manager A.J. Hinch said. “Very winnable game. It just didn’t work out.”
Matt Chapman had a two-run homer in the second among his three hits for the A’s, then Matt Joyce homered leading off the third as Oakland won a second straight. The A’s snapped their season-long eight-game losing streak Wednesday against the Angels.
Jharel Cotton surrendered three home runs for a second straight start and fourth time overall this year to match his season high. The right-hander allowed seven runs and seven hits in five innings, struck out four and walked three.
The Astros bullpen hadn’t allowed a run in five games before Semien’s third career slam and second this year.
McHugh is 13-0 in 17 September and October regular-season starts with the Astros — 11-0 in 15 September starts for Houston. His five-game winning streak against the A’s remained intact.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Astros: C/DH Evan Gattis, on the disabled list for the second time because of an injured right wrist after missing time last month with a concussion, is slated to come off the DL on Saturday and scheduled to be in the lineup Sunday. … 3B Alex Bregman had a scheduled day off. … Houston activated RHP Feliz (shoulder discomfort) from the 10-day DL. “Nice to get Michael back,” Hinch said, noting the pitcher improved his slider.
Athletics: OF Jake Smolinski, out all season following right shoulder surgery, is throwing to bases and playing catch to about 135 feet still with the hopes he will play the outfield by mid-month to get a couple of weeks out there before the season ends. “We were always targeting Sept. 15,” A’s manager Bob Melvin said. “This was a big step for him.”
UP NEXT
The teams play their first doubleheader against each other Saturday to make up an April 16 rainout. Oakland also played a doubleheader June 10, when it split with Tampa Bay. Part of why the teams agreed to this day was the expanded September rosters with ample pitching options.
Melvin planned to use some players he hasn’t before, with a couple of lineups already in mind that could be altered as necessary.
