After Houston fell into a quick one-run hole Authentic Cordy Glenn Jersey , Evan Gattis appreciated how the Astros came right back swinging.
Fences-clearing swings.
”It’s like let `em know we’re here, you know?” he said.
Gattis hit a three-run homer and drove in five runs, Carlos Correa returned from a four-game absence and homered on the first pitch he saw, and the Astros beat the Oakland Athletics 6-3 on Tuesday night for their sixth straight win.
Gattis has seven homers and 20 RBIs over his last 14 games.
”It’s been good for the last month,” he said. ”It’s easy to lose sight of that when you have a couple games where it’s like 1 for 8 or 9 or something like that the last couple games in Texas. It’s good to kind of sustain it a little bit.”
Lance McCullers Jr. (8-3) struck out five over seven strong innings, allowing two runs and five hits while winning a second straight decision. He surrendered Stephen Piscotty’s sacrifice fly in the second and then kept Oakland’s powerful order in check.
Correa was back in the lineup at shortstop after missing a series sweep at Texas with soreness in his right side after leaving last Wednesday’s game against the Mariners following an at-bat in the seventh inning.
Oakland scored on a wild pitch in the first before the Astros answered against Daniel Mengden (6-6). Correa homered leading off the second. Gattis hit his 11th homer three batters later, and then chased Mengden with a two-run double with two outs in the fifth.
”He’s obviously seeing the ball and he’s putting the barrel on it and coming up with huge hits, a lot of them doing damage,” manager A.J. Hinch said.
Matt Chapman hit three doubles before being hit by a pitch in the left hand in the eighth by Collin McHugh. X-rays were negative. Chapman’s three doubles matched the Oakland single-game record, done for the 28th time and first since Matt Joyce last Sept. 27.
”He’s using the whole field, seeing the ball early. Earlier in the season he was similar to this but right now I think he’s seeing the ball as well as he has all year,” A’s manager Bob Melvin said. ”You’re seeing that the last few games.”
Ken Giles finished for his 11th save in 11 tries as the World Series champions moved to 6-1 so far this season against the A’s.
Both teams left the bases loaded in the fourth.
Mengden was charged with six runs and eight hits.
BIG-TIME PARADE
The A’s had some fun with the NBA Golden State Warriors’ victory parade through downtown Oakland on Tuesday.
”We’re back after a day off and Oakland even had a parade to celebrate us returning,” the A’s posted on Twitter.
SPECIAL NOD
Hinch is making a special addition to his All-Star coaching staff for next month’s game in Washington: Retired Astros first base coach Rich Dauer will be in uniform and assisting Hinch.
”Just like old times,” Hinch said.
Last November, Dauer was rushed to a hospital immediately after Houston’s victory parade to celebrate its first World Series title. He survived a difficult surgery on a blood clot in his brain.
Dauer played for the Baltimore Orioles from 1976-85, winning a World Series in 1983. Dauer was hired by the Astros after the 2014 season.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Astros: There’s no structural issue with RHP Joe Smith’s sore elbow that put him on the disabled list last week. Smith saw a couple of different doctors and for now it’s just going to take time to let the inflammation calm down, Hinch said.
Athletics: The A’s plan to make a decision as soon as Wednesday on whether RHP Trevor Cahill will need a stint on the DL, which seems likely given his Achilles injury is not improving. Melvin expects RHP Chris Bassitt would return from Triple-A Nashville to replace Cahill in the rotation. ”If we do this, he deserves another chance,” Melvin said. … LHP Brett Anderson is scheduled for his first bullpen session Wednesday as he works back from a strained shoulder that landed him on the DL on May 19.
UP NEXT
Astros: RHP Gerrit Cole (7-1, 2.16 ERA) totaled 21 strikeouts to just four earned runs allowed in his first two starts against the A’s this season.
Athletics: RHP Paul Blackburn (1-0, 1.50 ERA) makes his second start since coming off the 60-day DL after he was sidelined with a strained forearm.
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Kyle Seager was asked before Thursday’s series opener against the Boston Red Sox what it’s like to face a knuckleball pitcher.
A look of horror crossed the face of the Seattle Mariners third baseman.
“Is that tonight?” Seager asked.
Told the Mariners wouldn’t be facing Steven Wright until Saturday’s game in Seattle, Seager exhaled.
“Wow, don’t scare me like that,” said Seager, who could be excused for losing track as his wife is expecting their third child.
Seager said he has faced knuckleballers Wright, R.A. Dickey and Tim Wakefield during his career. He is 2-for-6 against Wright.
“It’s just a difficult pitch, one you don’t see that often,” Seager said. “They all throw it a little different; it goes all over the place. It can be fun, you just have to laugh at it a little bit.”
Mariners first baseman Ryon Healy Authentic Preston Brown Jersey , whose locker is next to Seager’s in the home clubhouse at Safeco Field, said he got his first major-league hit off Dickey.
“My hitting coach said don’t worry about your approach,” said Healy, who was with the Oakland Athletics at the time. “Just swing and hope it’s in the strike zone.”
Wright (2-0, 1.21 ERA) is 2-1 with a 1.32 ERA is three career appearances against the Mariners, including one start.
This will be Wright’s third start of the season. He hasn’t allowed an earned run in the previous two. He post a 6-0 victory over Detroit on June 5 in which he allowed two hits in seven innings with three walks and six strikeouts. He gave up four hits in 6 2/3 innings in a no-decision on Monday at Baltimore, when he walked three and struck out five in a 2-0, 12-inning Red Sox victory.
“Out of the bullpen he was lights out, and then these past two starts have been pretty unreal,” Red Sox utility man Brock Holt told NESN. “That knuckleball dances around. It’s funny when you’re playing defense behind him and guys get on, they let you know how much it moves. It’s a difficult pitch to hit and he’s been able to throw strikes with it.”
Wright hasn’t allowed a run in his past 22 2/3 innings, the longest active streak in the majors.
“The thing with knuckleballs is people think you throw just one knuckleball, but the thing is, they’re big-league hitters,” Wright said. “The biggest thing is timing, and a pitcher’s got to disrupt their timing. So, for me, especially as a starter … I really just try to go back and forth with the velocity.”
The Mariners are scheduled to start left-hander Wade LeBlanc (2-0, 3.00), who has a 6.00 ERA but no decisions in two career starts against Boston.
LeBlanc, in his second stint with the Mariners, hasn’t lost in 16 starts for Seattle, tied for the fifth-longest such streak for a pitcher starting his tenure with a team in the live-ball era. LeBlanc is tied with former San Francisco starter Noah Lowry (2004-05), trailing only the New York Yankees’ Whitey Ford (22 starts in 1950-53), Montreal’s Kirk Rueter (22, 1993-94), Cincinnati’s Brooks Lawrence (18, 1956) and the Yankees’ Jim Coates (17, 1959-60).