HOUSTON –- The A’s can only hope they’re one and done with Collin McHugh.
For the second season in a row, they faced the Astros right-hander in an April contest and had no answers. McHugh only pitched into the sixth inning Wednesday, but he struck out 11 and set the tone as the A’s went down quietly, 6-1, at Minute Maid Park.
They settled for taking two out of three from Houston as they move on to Kansas City for the middle portion of this three-city road trip. Last season, McHugh (2-0) held them to two hits over 8 2/3 innings and got the victory at Minute Maid Park. The only good news for the A’s against McHugh on Wednesday was that all of those early strikeouts drove his pitch count up. He was gone after 5 2/3 innings, but the A’s didn’t have any more success off the bullpen.
They struck out 13 times as a team, with Brett Lawrie going down swinging three times and Mark Canha, Billy Butler and Stephen Vogt striking out twice. Former A’s shortstop Jed Lowrie put his old team in an early hole with a two-run homer in the first and a run-scoring double in the third.
Starting pitching report
After watching the A’s jump out to early leads in the first two games of this series, the Astros turned the tables thanks to Lowrie. He crushed a 2-2 pitch from Drew Pomeranz (1-1) deep over the left field wall and on to the train tracks for a two-run homer in the first.
The lefty wasn’t as sharp as his season debut, when he threw seven scoreless against the Mariners, and Lowrie in particular was a thorn in his side Wednesday. The switch hitter went the opposite way in the third with an RBI double down the right field line that made it 3-1 Houston. The Astros tacked on another run off Pomeranz in the fifth when Jake Marisnick tripled to the right field corner with one out and scored when Jose Altuve punched a single through a drawn-in infield.
Pomeranz left after allowing a leadoff walk to Lowrie in the sixth, giving up four runs on six hits in five-plus innings. He struck out five and walked one.
Bullpen report
Evan Scribner relieved Pomeranz and gave up Luis Valbuena’s leadoff homer in the seventh. R.J. Alvarez served up Evan Gattis’ solo blast to left-center in the eighth. The A’s bullpen has allowed 11 runs over the first 10 games, with all 11 coming on homers.
At the plate
The A’s only run came in the second, when Billy Butler extended his season-opening hitting streak to 10 games and eventually came around to score when Marcus Semien legged out a two-out infield single with the bases loaded. No. 2 hitter Mark Canha has cooled off over the past couple of games. He was in an 0-for-9 dip before reaching on an infield single in the eighth.
Lawrie has struck out 12 times in 10 games so far.
In the field
Reddick is making his defensive presence felt since returning from the disabled list Sunday. He made a diving catch of Altuve’s shallow fly to right in the third. That came a night after he made two great running catches to late in the game to help preserve an Oakland lead.
The A’s also picked two runners off the bases, with Pomeranz nailing Altuve at first base and catcher Stephen Vogt throwing behind Lowrie to catch him too far off the base at first. The latter play was ruled a caught stealing, the A’s first of the season.
Attendance
A crowd of 19,777 was on hand for the series finale.
Up next
After their first day off of the season, the A’s will begin a three-game series Friday at Kansas City. The Royals entered Wednesday night as the majors’ only remaining undefeated team at 7-0. Friday – Sonny Gray (1-0, 0.59) vs. Jeremy Guthrie (1-0, 5.14), 5:10 p.m. Saturday – Jesse Hahn (0-1, 3.09) vs. Yordano Ventura (2-0, 2.31), 4:10 p.m. Sunday – Scott Kazmir (2-0, 0.69) vs. Danny Duffy (1-0, 6.35), 11:10 a.m. All three games will air on CSN California.
