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***Game Thread 1/Game Thread 2***
Things did not start well.
The First Inning.
On Marco Estrada’s 6th pitch of the game, George Springer hit a home run out to left field.
On Marco Estrada’s 12th pitch of the game he walked Jose Altuve.
The A’s started turning things around soon after. All 3 outs of the top of the 1st came from balls caught in foul territory including a Chapman-esque catch by Robbie Grossman, followed up by a spectacular dive by Chapman himself.
Colin McHugh had a 1-2-3 inning against the A’s.
The Second Inning.
On Marco Estrada’s 27th pitch of the game Yuli Gurriel hit a dribbler single
On Marco Estrada’s 32nd pitch of the game Josh Reddick hit a home run out to right field.
The A’s started turning things around soon after. All 3 outs of the top of the 2nd came from balls caught in the outfield.
The A’s had singles from Khris Davis and Stephen Piscotty, but a double play and strike out ended the inning, keeping Oakland scoreless.
The Third Inning.
On Marco Estrada’s 43rd pitch of the game Jose Altuve singled on a grounder out past the infield.
The A’s started turning things around soon after. All 3 outs of the top of the 3rd came from fly balls.
Colin McHugh had a 1-2-3 inning against the A’s with 2 strikeouts.
Things got worse.
The Fourth Inning.
On Marco Estrada’s 54th pitch of the game he walked Yuli Gurriel.
On Marco Estrada’s 56th pitch of the game Josh Reddick singled with a pop fly to left field.
On Marco Estrada’s 62nd pitch of the game he struck out Tyler White, his first of the game!
On Marco Estrada’s 63rd pitch of the game he hit Robinson Chirinos to load the bases.
On Marco Estrada’s 69th pitch of the game he walked George Springer, scoring Gurriel.
After 3.1 innings and 69 pitches, Marco Estrada was taken out of the game and replaced by Liam Hendricks.
On Liam Hendricks’ 6th pitch of the game he struck out Jose Altuve.
On Liam Hendricks’ 9th pitch of the game Alex Bregman hit a grand slam to right centre field.
On Liam Hendricks’ 13th pitch of the game he hit Michael Brantley.
Carlos Correa grounded out to short, ending the Astros’ half of the inning.
Colin McHugh had a 1-2-3 inning against the A’s with a strikeout.
The Fifth Inning.
Two quick outs, including a Reddick swinging strike out to start the 5th.
On Liam Hendricks’ 28th pitch of the game he walked Tyler White.
On Liam Hendricks’ 36th pitch of the game he walked Robinson Chirinos.
George Springer struck out, moving things to the A’s half of the inning.
Kendrys Morales popped out, and then Jurickson Profar grounded into a double play after Piscotty walked.
The Sixth Inning
Fernando Rodney takes the mound.
Jose Altuve strikes out for the second time, and Alex Bregman pops out.
On Fernando Rodney’s 10 pitch Michael Brantley hit a line drive single.
Carlos Correa lined out to left, to move things along.
Ramon Laureano took McHugh for an 8 pitch walk. Hundley popped out, Grossman struck out, and Semien worked a 9 pitch at-bat that ended as a foul pop out.
There is no redemption.
The Seventh Inning.
Ryan Buchter is pitching. Glenn and Ray have started looking though baseball cards.
On Ryan Buchter’s 6th pitch Gurriel singles on a line drive to right.
On Ryan Buchter’s 8th pitch Reddick singles to centre.
On Ryan Buchter’s 13th pitch he walked Tyler White.
Ray Fosse tried to make “Enron Field” sound like “Homerun Field”. It did not.
On Ryan Buchter’s 17th pitch Chirinos scores Gurriel on a sac fly.
On Ryan Buchter’s 23rd pitch he walks Springer.
Pinch hitter Aldemys Diaz strikes out and Bregman grounds out to Chapman to turn the inning over.
Josh James takes over from Colin McHugh after 6 innings pitched.
Chad Pinder comes in as a pinch hitter and strikes out.
Mark Canha comes in as a pinch hitter and gets hit by a pitch.
Kendrys Morales flies out to left field.
Mark Canha advances to second, but Stephen Piscotty strikes out.
End of inning.
The Eighth Inning.
Yusmerio Petit is now pitching.
Yusmerio Petit has a 1-2-3 inning with a strikeout.
This is the first inning without an Astros base runner.
Profar flies out, and Laureano takes a walk on 6 pitches.
Hundley strikes out, and Grossman grounds out.
The Ninth Inning.
Joakim Soria is now pitching.
A quick first out for Reddick
On Joakim Soria’s 8th pitch, he walked Tyler White.
Chirinos flies out, and Springer grounds out.
The end is in sight.
Reymin Guduan is assigned the bottom of the ninth for the Astros.
On Reymin Guduan’s 5th pitch he walked Marcus Semien.
On Reymin Guduan’s 8th pitch Chad Pinder singles on a ground ball through the infield.
On Reymin Guduan’s 11th pitch Mark Canha singles on a ground ball through the infield
On Reymin Guduan’s 16th pitch Kendrys Morales hits a deep sac fly to score Semien.
Reymin Guduan is taken out of the game. Chris Devinski now pitching.
Piscotty strikes out on a swing that just didn’t get checked enough, Profar pops out in the left field mould grounds.
The game is over. We are released.
This was a real tough one to watch, and I hope that this recap has served as a bit of a condensed version of the general hopelessness I felt watching tonight’s game. It was a slow churn towards the inevitable. At least the Athletics avoided the shut out and took advantage of the one shaky Stros pitcher in the ninth. The game took 3 hours to play, but as an observer I could have sworn it went on for hours longer.
From the get-go pitching was a problem tonight. It took until the penultimate inning for there to be an Athletics pitcher on the mound seeming to take advantage of the Stros, and even then it was largely against bench players being subbed in to the late parts of a blow out.
The Astros make it to a 10 game winning streak, dating back to their sweep of the A’s in Houston. The A’s move back to .500 with this loss. We can only hope that things go better tomorrow and the Athletics can split the short series.
