Irvin conquers road woes, holds Astros in check

HOUSTON -- It may just look like an ordinary win against the Astros for Cole Irvin, but the start meant much more than that.

The A's pitchers have the slight luxury of throwing in a pitcher-friendly stadium in the Coliseum, which is tied for the second-most pitcher-friendly ballpark, according to Baseball Savant's multi-year park factor. One pitcher who has reaped the benefits of that is Irvin, who has a 1.68 ERA and .208 opponents’ batting average in his eight home starts this season.

The issue for Irvin has been in his road starts, as his numbers change vastly. He entered with a 5.27 ERA and .281 opponents’ batting average in seven starts on the road.

Irvin overcame his road struggles on Friday evening by throwing six strong innings of one-run ball in the A's 5-1 win over the Astros at Minute Maid Park.

“[Minute Maid Park] can be a hitter’s paradise,” Irvin said. “Tonight, it was just executing pitches and getting outs. I was really simplifying my game plan today, so that’s a good thing heading into the break.”

Irvin's quality start lowered his season ERA to 3.21 and WHIP to 1.10. He’s shown significant improvement from last year, when he had a 10-15 record with an ERA of 4.24.

The trouble last season came late in the year when Irvin was worn down, and he wasn’t executing his pitches as well as he did earlier in the season. A factor that contributed to his decline was starting a career-high 32 games after playing sparingly in the Majors the two seasons prior.

It’s been a different story this season for the lefty heading into the All-Star break.

“Physically, he looks good,” A's manager Mark Kotsay said. “He looks strong and velocity is still there. Last year was his first full season, and he is taking from what he learned that season. He’s challenged himself to continue to implement just different things he feels he needs to incorporate to be strong to finish. So for me, Cole is doing all the right things right now.”

Irvin had to do all the right things as he was facing the Astros for a second straight start. He was solid in his last outing against Houston, going six innings and allowing two runs on five hits.

Irvin did not receive enough run support and was dealt a tough-luck loss in that start. The lack of run support has been a trend and a big reason for the A's losing Irvin's starts.

The A's had lost 10 of Irvin’s past 11 starts despite his 3.33 ERA over that span. That may not be shocking, given the A's struggles offensively, as they rank last in the Major Leagues in batting average (.211), on-base percentage (.272) and slugging percentage (.332).

Friday’s matchup did not favor the A's hitters as they faced José Urquidy, who entered with a .148 opponents’ batting average against Oakland this season. Despite this, the A's found a way to pile on runs.

Seth Brown and Chad Pinder reached on a single and a double, respectively, to lead off the top of the seventh inning. Elvis Andrus drove them both in with a two-run, go-ahead single. Skye Bolt added some insurance with an RBI single in the seventh before crushing a 425-foot two-run homer in the ninth to put the game out of reach.

It was a rather unlikely win against the AL West leaders, especially given Irvin’s struggles away from home, which made it all the more meaningful for the lefty.

“Success on the road is what I need to improve on,” Irvin said, “and today definitely helped, being able to do what I did, especially before the All-Star break.”