A blast that wasn’t enough
Christian Walker drove one 425 feet into the Oakland night and for a few seconds it looked like it might matter. It didn’t. The Athletics had an answer ready every time Houston pushed, and the Astros walked out of the Coliseum on Friday night with a 6-5 loss that changes nothing and everything at once.
Jacob Lopez did the heavy lifting for Oakland, working six innings and allowing just one run on two hits while striking out four. Hogan Harris slammed the door for his 17th save, stranding Houston’s response before it could turn into a real threat. Michael Stefanic and Henry Bolte each drove in two runs, the kind of unglamorous production that decides one-run games in the final week of September.
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Still tied, still uneasy
Hunter Brown went 5⅓ innings for Houston, allowing two runs, only one of them earned, with four strikeouts and four walks. Cam Smith added a solo homer to go with Walker’s, but the Astros bullpen couldn’t hold the line once Brown was pulled. The result leaves Houston at 79-81, still level with Texas atop a division neither club has managed to escape for weeks. The Rangers didn’t get any relief either, losing to Minnesota the same night as Jacob deGrom got roughed up.
Nobody in the AL West owns a winning record with the regular season nearly over. If that holds through the final week, the division winner will become the first team in MLB history to reach the playoffs without one, outside of a strike-shortened year. It says everything about how flat this division has been: Houston and Texas have swapped the lead back and forth for a month without either side ever pulling clear.
What’s left
Tiebreaker scenarios are already circulating around both clubs, and every remaining game now counts double. Saturday’s loss leaves Houston with no cushion heading into the last stretch, and a rematch with an Athletics team that has nothing left to play for except spoiling somebody else’s October.
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