More Home Run Haymakers Land as A’s Take Game 3 from Astros

After their regular season dustup — not to mention Houston’s jawing leading into the ALDS — it seemed as if the Astros and the Athletics might come to postseason blows. Instead, they’ve settled for a barrage of long balls. Wednesday’s Game 3 featured seven more home runs, including five from the eventually triumphant Oakland, tying a postseason franchise record set during the Jose Canseco era. The A’s avoided a sweep and pushed the series to a fourth game while the combined home run count in the series climbed to 18.

For the first time in the postseason, the grind of a five-game series without an off day had a clear impact on which pitchers were deployed and how they performed. With electric rookie reliever Enoli Paredes unavailable after pitching in the first two games, and the other Astros starters unavailable to piggyback due to the Division Series schedule and the smoldering questions surrounding Zack Greinke’s health, the soft underbelly of the Astros bullpen was exposed late in the game as the Athletics scored five combined runs to take the lead.

Most of Oakland’s damage, as well as both the most significant narrative and literal swing in the game, came against reliever Josh James, who entered the game with a two-run lead. After pitching a scoreless, double play-aided sixth inning, James returned for the seventh and surrendered singles to Marcus Semien and Tommy La Stella before Chad Pinder, who had been in a strict left/right platoon with Jake Lamb leading up to the game, was left in to face the same-handed James. He sent a first-pitch breaking ball over the right field wall, tying the game at seven.

James was relieved by lefty Brooks Raley, who was DFA’ed by Cincinnati earlier in the year before being traded to Houston. Raley, who added a slider after joining the Astros and had a career-high strikeout rate, set Oakland down in the sixth before he too was asked to pitch a second inning, which did not go well. A pair of walks, a double, and a hit batter later, and Oakland had tacked on two insurance runs in the eighth. In a bold and perhaps consequential move by manager Bob Melvin, A’s closer Liam Hendriks shut the door over three scoreless frames, throwing 37 pitches in the process.

Houston’s bullpen wasn’t the only one that has been stretched thin. Neither team’s starter pitched deep into the game, as both flame-throwing A’s youngster Jesús Luzardo and 2019 Astros pop-up prospect Jose Urquidy lasted just 4.1 innings. Urquidy surrendered a lot of airborne contact. Except for a third inning La Stella groundout, every ball put in play against him was hit in the air, including the whopping four solo shots he surrendered to the aforementioned La Stella, Semien, Mark Canha, and Matt Olson.

Luzardo had a rocky first frame, allowing two runs, including a Jose Altuve homer, but the four A’s bombs off of Urquidy gave Oakland a two-run cushion as Luzardo retired 10 consecutive Astros into the middle innings. Then things sideways for Oakland in the fifth. Luzardo gave up a two-run shot to free-swinging platoon infielder Aledmys Díaz and was replaced by Yusmeiro Petit with the idea being, at least in part, to prevent the top of the Astros order from seeing Luzardo for a third time. But it was also the third time the meat of Houston’s order had seen Petit in as many days, and they teed off on him; after hitting George Springer, Petit gave up three consecutive hits and was removed amid a five-run inning.

As Houston piled on in the fifth it seemed like Oakland was staring over the cliffside of yet another early playoff exit, but the offense and Hendricks pulled them back from the brink.

Quick Hits

• Springer went 0-for-4 with three strikeouts after going 4-for-5 with a double in Game 1 and homering twice in Game 2.
• La Stella left the game after being hit by a pitch near the elbow in the eighth. X-rays showed no fracture, and Bob Melvin called it a “contusion” post-game.
• Oakland has named Frankie Montas as their Game 4 starter while Houston’s is still TBD, though Greinke apparently remains an option as his arm troubles aren’t structural. Cristian Javier threw just one inning in Game 1, while talented newcomer Luis Garcia, who currently ranks 13th in Houston’s system, has also yet to pitch in this series, so either of them could eat innings as well.