A’s come out swinging but drop heartbreaker

HOUSTON -- The A’s week-long search for offense arrived soon after the first pitch was thrown in their series opener against the Astros on Tuesday at Minute Maid Park. But their aggressive approach against Houston starter Framber Valdez, though effective early, carried them only so far, and they had no answers when the Astros came roaring back.

All losses sting, but this 9-6 defeat to their division rival might linger a bit. The A’s seemed to come into this game with a sense of urgency, and, at first, it worked. They scored three runs in each of the first two innings off Valdez and carried a four-run lead into the fifth, but it all vanished on Yordan Alvarez’s three-run homer into the left field Crawford Boxes off A’s starter Chris Bassitt.

Jose Altuve’s two-run single off J.B. Wendelken broke the tie an inning later.

“In this series, we knew that we needed to score,” shortstop Elvis Andrus said. “That’s the only way you can beat this team, Houston. They score a lot of runs. Besides playing good defense and pitching, you have to score early. I’m really happy we did it, but it didn't work out in the end.”

It was the A’s fifth loss in seven games, but this one looked different from the others.

Heading into this series, the A’s had been struggling to generate momentum at the plate. Over their prior nine games, the team had collectively hit .193 with 3.3 runs scored per game and had been shut out twice.

This time, the A’s came out swinging against Valdez and his troublesome curveball, jumping at first pitches and making hard contact, and turning that into steady production.

Ramón Laureano, a former Astros prospect -- who has a knack for performing well against his old organization -- doubled, singled and scored twice in his first two at-bats. Jed Lowrie, who has two prior tours with Houston, also delivered hits in his first two at-bats, including an RBI double off Valdez that contributed to the A’s three-run first.

But the bats were quiet following the early outburst. The A’s generated just three hits over the next seven innings.

“It's encouraging to see our at-bats early in the game,” manager Bob Melvin said. “We had a really good approach against the guy [Valdez, who] had not given up much all year, and scored what? Six runs in the first two innings. That was encouraging.”

But it wasn’t enough.

“We want to take some silver linings -- we got some good at-bats from some guys that have been struggling a little bit,” Melvin said. “But we’ve got to find a way to hold them down.”

Bassitt, who hadn’t allowed more than four runs in any prior outing this season, took responsibility for that part. He spelled it out clearly: “I had nothing today.”

“Missed locations and having no life to any pitch,” Bassitt said. “If you're going to miss locations, you better have life to the pitches, and I had nothing today. It really sucks when the offense comes out. It really sucks to not have your stuff against this team.

“We had a win. They took it from us. That simple. And I gave it to them.”

There were a few daggers in particular that made this loss especially tough. The A’s had runners at the corners and no outs in the fifth, but in what turned out to be their final tangible opportunity to score, they failed to do so, recording two groundouts and a strikeout to end the threat.

In the sixth, with the infield playing in, Altuve’s tie-breaking single barely nicked Andrus’ glove. That might have been the biggest “what if” of the night.

“It hit the end of the glove,” Andrus said. “When you play in, the ball gets there a lot quicker. I was really upset. I had an opportunity to catch it, and it was just a little too fast for me. I think it would have changed the whole inning if I was able to make the play.”

The loss dropped the A’s to 4 1/2 games behind the Astros in the American League West.

“We know that usually, Oakland starts playing a lot better in the second half,” Andrus said. “We know how hard these games are going to be, but we know there's nothing else we can do but stay focused, have a short memory and stay positive.”