OAKLAND, Calif. — On Aug. 8 in front of a crowd of about 16,000, AL West rivals the Oakland Athletics and the Houston Astros squared off in a game that would take an extra innings to solve. In a 10-inning game — which saw everything from home runs to exceptional defense — the Houston Astros ultimately came out as the victors, 5-4.
The scoring started off early, as the Astros tallied a run in the first inning off of a Jed Lowrie sacrifice fly that advanced Carlos Gomez from third, giving them a 1-0 lead.
The A’s would quickly answer back, though, in the second inning with catcher Stephen Vogt hitting a solo home run, his 15th of the season, tying the game at 1. The scoring would resume in the fifth inning, with A’s third baseman Brett Lawrie hitting a solo home run of his own, his 10th total home run of the season, giving the A’s a 2-1 lead.
The Astros, however, bounced back in a huge way in the eighth inning, as rookie shortstop Carlos Correa hit a two-run home run, followed by a Colby Rasmus single and an error by the Athletics that would allow Lowrie to score from second base. After a three-run eighth inning, the Astros were on top, 4-2.
The A’s staged a ninth-inning rally, scoring twice on an Ike Davis RBI single and a Billy Burns fielder’s choice groundout.
The game went into the 10th inning, during which the Astros wasted no time getting the run they needed to take the advantage. The Astros scored on a Lowrie double, which would score Jose Altuve, giving them a 5-4 lead.
Reliever Will Harris came in for the Astros in the 10th inning and finished the job, picking up his first career MLB save in the process, as the Astros held on for a 5-4 victory over their divisional foes.