OAKLAND –– Maybe all the A’s needed was some time away from the diamond to turn their fortunes around.
After beating the Houston Astros 5-3 at the Coliseum on Tuesday night, powered by a third-inning grand slam from Chad Pinder, the A’s (37-63) have won five out of their last seven games and have won 11 games in July, its most wins in a month this season.
“We went through that tough skit in June, we told people were tired, mentally and physically fatigued,” Pinder said. “To move into July and kind of turn the page, it’s just refreshing.”
While the A’s, who have the worst winning percentage in the American League, aren’t in line to make a miraculous second-half playoff push, A’s manager Mark Kotsay and his young team are enjoying the success after an abysmal first half.
“I think this team should feel good about the way they played baseball going into the break and post break,” Kotsay said. “We talked about preparing, just prepare to win, I think these guys are doing that and feeling good about you know, how they’ve how they’ve performed.”
The A’s and their fans should have also enjoyed Frankie Montas’ (4-9, 3.18 ERA), who could have played in his last home game in an A’s uniform ahead of the Aug. 2 trade deadline, performance against the Astros where he earned the win, going five innings, allowing seven hits and three runs (two earned).
If it is farewell to Montas, he’s left a pretty impressive resume with the A’s during his five-season tenure in Oakland.
“I’m not going to lie, of course I’ve been thinking about it, especially like the deadline coming up pretty soon,” Montas said. “There were times today that I thought, hey, this might be my last start here. But I’m not trying to think about that. I’m trying to think of the good moments that I’ve been here, that I’ve been part of. And I’m here right now. So whatever happens, I’m still an Oakland A.”
Unlike previous outings, the A’s gave Montas run support early in the game. All it took was one mighty swing by Pinder.
In his first at-bat back from the injured list, Jonah Bride singled in the third inning off Astros starter Luis Garcia (8-6, 3.81) before advancing to second base on a groundout by Vimael Machín. Garcia walked Ramón Laureano and Sean Murphy to load the bases. The next batter was Pinder, who sent a Garcia slider over the left field wall to open the scoring with a grand slam, bringing the small crowd of 5,130 to its feet. It was Pinder’s fourth slam of his career
well that home run was of the GRAND variety 🤩 pic.twitter.com/2lwyK0zLIO
— Oakland A’s (@Athletics) July 27, 2022
Houston cut its deficit to 4-3 over the next two innings as Kyle Tucker launched a solo homer, his 19th of the season, into the right-field bleachers in the fourth inning and Yordan Alvarez doubled in a run and scored on an error by Machín in the fifth inning.
Tony Kemp gave the A’s a two-run cushion in the eighth inning by scoring Stephen Piscotty on a two-out double.
Austin Pruitt, Sam Moll, Zach Jackson and Lou Trivino held the Astros hitless in four innings of relief. Trivino earned his 10th save of the season.
The A’s look for their first sweep of the season tomorrow afternoon as they send hot left-hander Cole Irvin (4-7, 3.08) to face Astros right-hander Cristian Javier (6-5, 3.13).
Source: www.mercurynews.com