HOUSTON ASTROS NOTES:
No team release available.
OAKLAND ATHLETICS NOTES:
ABOUT THE A’S: Had their two-game winning streak snapped last night and have now lost nine of the last 11 games…are 15-22 (.405) over the last 37 games dating back to June 6 after going 12-50 (.194) over the first 62 contests…are 27-72 (.273) overall, which is the lowest winning percentage in the majors behind the Royals (28-70, .286)…the last two Major League teams to finish with a winning percentage under .290 are the 2003 Tigers (43-119, .265) and 1962 Mets (40-120, .250)…are 6-7-1 over the last 14 series after going 1-16 over the first 17…were swept by the Twins to open the homestand and have been swept 13 times, which matches the season total from last year…have one sweep this season.
AGAINST THE WEST: The A’s have a 13-game losing streak against American League West teams, which is the longest in Oakland history…it tops the previous mark of nine (three times, last: Aug. 13-Sept. 5, 2016)…are 4-24 (.143) for the season, which is the lowest intra-division winning percentage in the majors…the lowest mark in Oakland history is .306 (11-25) in 1997 and the lowest mark by any team against its own division is .224 (17-59) by the Nationals last year…are batting .197 (177-for-898) with 72 runs scored (2.6 runs per game) against teams from the West and have allowed 179 runs for a run differential of -107.
OFFENSE: The A’s are batting .238 (126-for-529) with 68 runs scored over the last 16 games (4.3 runs per game)…rank last in the majors with a .221 batting average and 354 runs scored overall…also rank last in slugging (.357), OPS (.657) and extra base hits (241), third in fewest doubles (133) and most strikeouts (920), tied for third in most times shut out (11), fourth in lowest on-base percentage (.300) and eighth in fewest home runs (93)…rank second in sacrifice hits (19) and tied for third in hit by pitches (54).
IN THE PINCH: A’s pinch hitters lead the majors in hits (25), rank fourth in plate appearances (106), tied for fourth in doubles (4) and extra base hits (6), tied for seventh in walks (10), tied for ninth in home runs (2) and tied for 10th in RBI (10).
PITCHING: The A’s have compiled a 4.86 ERA (34 er in 63.0 ip) since the All-Star Break, which has lowered the season ERA to 5.97…that is the highest ERA in the majors but it matches the lowest by the A’s since the sixth game of the season (5.97 on July 5)…also have the highest opponents on-base percentage in the majors (.358), the second highest slugging percentage (.463) and OPS (.820) and fourth highest batting average (.270)…lead the majors in most walks (424), hit batters (62) and wild pitches (45), are tied for the fewest shutouts (2), tied for second in most home runs (137) and rank ninth in fewest strikeouts (789)…are the only team without a balk.
STARTING PITCHING: A’s starting pitchers are 1-6 with a 5.92 ERA (43 er in 65.1 ip) in July and are 9-46 with a 6.27 ERA for the season…have the fewest wins in the majors, the second highest ERA and third most losses…have tossed 7.1 innings or fewer in each game and have the second fewest innings pitched (455.1).
THE BULLPEN: The A’s bullpen has a win, two saves and a 1.26 ERA (2 er in 4.1 ip) over the last four games but has a 6.04 ERA (68 er in 101.1 ip) over the last 24 contests…has a 5.64 ERA overall, which is the highest in the majors…also the has the most losses (26) and innings pitched (416.2)…has 12 saves over the last 36 games after tallying just four over the first 63…has converted 16-of-33 (48.5%) save opportunities for the season, which is the third lowest percentage in the majors…has the third fewest saves and is tied for the eighth most blown saves (17)…has allowed 73-of-187 (39.0%) inherited runners to score, which is the fourth highest percentage…has the second most inherited runners.
ON THE BASES: The A’s are 17-for-19 (89.4%) in stolen bases attempts over the last 17 games and 96-for-116 (82.8%) for the season…rank third in the majors in attempts, fourth in steals and sixth in percentage…the stolen bases are the most by an A’s team since 2012 (122)…A’s opponents are 74-for107 (69.2%) in stolen base attempts, which is the second lowest success rate in the majors…the 33 caught stealings are eight more than any other team but the 74 stolen bases are 10th most…A’s pitchers have 11 pickoffs, which is third most.
DEFENSIVE DOINGS: The A’s have not committed an error in six of the last seven games but made four in the one game with an error on Wednesday… now have 60 errors for the season, which is tied for third most in the majors…are tied for 10th in outfield assists (16)…rank sixth in fewest double plays (70) and tied for ninth in most passed balls (6).
ONE-RUN GAMES AND THE REST: The A’s are 16-20 (.444) in one-run games and 11-52 (.174) in games decided by two or more runs…that includes a 2-18 record in games decided by seven or more runs…17 of the A’s last 35 games have been decided by one run and 16 of the A’s 27 wins are by one run…are tied for the most one-run losses in the majors, rank third in games (36) and tied for seventh in wins…have a run differential of -258, which is the lowest in the majors.
WINNING LATE: The A’s have scored the winning run in their final at bat in 13 of their 27 victories (48.1%)…are 6-6 (.500) in extra inning games and the six wins matches the A’s total from last year…are tied for fourth in the majors in extra inning games (12), tied for fifth in wins and tied for sixth in most losses…have six walk-off wins, which is tied for second most…have 12 wins when tied or trailing after seven innings, which is tied for fifth most.
HOME AND AWAY: The A’s are 2-5 on this 10-game homestand against Minnesota (0-3), Boston (2-1) and Houston (0-1)…this is the first of two 10-game homestands and it begins a 27-day stretch where the A’s will leave the state of California once (July 28-30 at Colorado)…went 3-3 on the last homestand against New York-AL (1-2) and Chicago-AL (2-1) and are 14-37 (.275) at home, which is the lowest home winning percentage in the majors…begin an eight-game road trip to San Francisco (two games), Colorado (three games) and Los Angeles-NL (three games) on Tuesday…will have four days off over a 12-game stretch beginning next Monday…went 2-4 on the last road trip to Detroit (2-1) and Boston (0-3) and are 13-35 (.271) on the road, which is the worst road record in the majors…have compiled a 5.24 ERA (274 er in 471.0 ip) at home compared to 6.80 on the road.
ROSTER NOTES: The A’s placed Ryan Noda on the injured list yesterday and have now used the IL 25 times this year…the only times in Oakland history the A’s used the IL more times for non-Covid reasons were in 2016 (27) and 2018 (26)…currently have a season-high 13 players on the IL…the only other time in Oakland history the A’s had 13 or more players on the IL at once was in 2016 when they peaked at 16 from Aug. 22-28…the A’s have employed 52 players this year, which is tied with the Angels and Reds for the most in the majors…Tayler Scott would become #53…employed a franchise record 64 players last year…have used 32 pitchers (Scott would be #33), which is third most in the majors (Reds and Rays, 33) and third most in Athletics history… used 34 pitchers in 2018 and 2022…have used an Athletics record 28 relievers, topping the previous mark of 27 set in 2018 and 2022…14 pitchers have started a game, which is tied for third most in Oakland history (16 in 1983, 15 in 2018)…17 of the 52 players are rookies after using an Oakland-record 34 rookies last year…10 have made their Major League debuts (had 23 do that last year).
A’S VS. ASTROS
- The A’s are 0-7 to start the season series after losing the season series last year for the seventh time in the last eight years.
- Have an eight-game losing streak against the Astros, which matches their second longest against Houston…the longest is a 10-game streak from July 20, 2016-April 28, 2017.
- Have lost 13 of the last 14 games, including nine of the last 10 at Minute Maid Park.
- Are 59-91 (.393) against Houston dating back to 2015 after winning each of their first four season series against the Astros (31-13, .705).
Year Home Road Totals
2023 0-4 0-3 0-7
2022 4-5 3-7 7-12
Oakland History: 90-104
at the Coliseum: 50-50
at Minute Maid Park: 40-54
TODAY’S TIDBITS
Aledmys Díaz is 5-for-15 (.333) over his last six games after going 4-for-32 (.125) over his previous 12 contests…has hit safely in all six of his games against Houston this year (7-for-16, .438) and is a .389 (14-for-36) hitter in 13 career games against the Astros…Tony Kemp is batting .315 (28-for89) with a .396 on-base percentage (10 bb, 2 hbp) over his last 27 games dating back to June 15, after hitting .146 with a .244 on-base percentage over his first 51 contests.
TODAY’S STARTING PITCHER: JP Sears (1-6, 3.99 ERA)
FOR STARTERS: Is scheduled to make his team-leading 20th start of the season…is the only A’s pitcher to spend the entire season in the starting rotation…has allowed two runs or fewer in seven of his last 10 starts, including one run four times and no runs once…is 1-3 with a 3.14 ERA (20 er in 57.1 ip) and .191 (39-for-204) opponents batting average over that span after going 0-3 with a 4.99 ERA and .246 opponents average over his first nine starts.
RANKINGS: Ranks 10th in the majors in fewest walks per nine innings (1.95) and 12th in opponents batting average (.217)…has hit 11 batters, which is tied for the most in the majors…is tied for sixth in most home runs allowed (21).
SIX HITS OR FEWER: Allowed eight hits in his first start but has yielded six hits or fewer in each of his last 18 starts, which is the third longest such streak in Oakland history…the only longer streaks are a pair of 20-game streaks by Trevor Cahill (May 5-Aug. 14, 2010) and Tim Conroy (June 23, 1978-Aug. 31, 1983).
DECISIONS: Has a no decision in each of his last three starts and now has 12 for the season, which is tied for second most in the majors among starters… it is tied for second most by an A’s starting pitcher over the last 19 years… Mike Fiers had 14 in 2019…the Oakland record for no decisions by a starting pitcher is 15 by Ron Darling in 1993…has left with the lead and was in position to win in four of his no decisions.
OPPONENTS BATTING: Has a .199 (63-for-316) opponents batting average and .687 OPS against right-handed hitters compared to .293 (22-for-75) with a .768 OPS against left-handers…his opponents average against righties is fifth lowest in the majors…has allowed 32 of his 36 extra base hits to righties…has yielded 49 of his 56 career extra base hits to righties, including 26 of his 29 home runs…has a .242 (37-for-153) opponents batting average the first time through the order, .212 (33-for-156) the second time and .183 (15-for-82) the third time…opponents are 1-for-38 with 21 strikeouts on an 0-2 count.
THIS AND THAT: Has walked two batters or fewer in 16 of his 19 starts, including seven starts with no walks and six with one…14 of the 21 home runs he has allowed are solo shots…has a 6.16 ERA (13 er in 19.0 ip) in the first inning, a 2.53 ERA (16 er in 57.0 ip) in innings 2-4 and a 5.40 ERA (18 er in 30.0 ip) from the fifth inning on.
2023 DAY-BY-DAY: Allowed a career-high tying eight hits in his first start on April 4 against Cleveland but had a no decision in the A’s 4-3 win…struck out a career-high 11 batters in 6.0 innings on April 21 at Texas but had a no decision in the A’s 5-4 win…finished April with an 0-2 record, a 6.23 ERA and .846 opponents OPS in five starts…then went 0-1 with a 2.94 ERA and .669 opponents OPS in six starts in May…tossed 6.0 scoreless innings on May 3 against Seattle but had a no decision in the A’s 7-2 10-inning loss…left with a 2-0 lead but the pen allowed one run in the seventh and one in the ninth for the blown save…it was the first of four times he left with the lead and was in position to get the win only to have the bullpen blow the save (May 25 at Seattle, July 9 at Boston, July 16 vs. Minnesota)…surrendered a career-high tying three home runs in a 7-2 loss at New York (AL) on May 8…that extended his losing streak to a career-high four games dating back to Sept. 25, 2022… posted a 5.55 ERA and .782 opponents OPS over that stretch, which spanned nine games, including eight starts…had a no decision in an 11-3 loss to Texas on May 14 to start a stretch of five consecutive no decisions from May 14 to June 5…compiled a 2.33 ERA and .609 opponents OPS during the streak, which fell one short of the Oakland record for consecutive starts without a decision…had career highs in walks (5) and pitches (112) in a no decision at Pittsburgh on June 5…snapped his career-high four-game losing streak in the A’s 8-6 win at Milwaukee on June 11…it was his first win since Sept. 20, 2022 against Seattle…had tossed six innings or fewer in each of the first 24 starts of his career before tossing 7.0 innings in back-to-back starts on June 16 vs. Philadelphia and June 22 at Cleveland, both losses…surrendered a career-high tying three home runs to the Phillies…retired the final 10 batters he faced against the Phillies and the first 11 against the Guardians for a streak of 21 consecutive batters retired…allowed a career-high seven runs in a season-low 4.0 innings in an 11-0 loss to New York (AL) on June 28…Domingo German tossed a perfect game for the Yankees…tossed a career-high 7.1 scoreless innings, scattered five hits, and did not walk a batter on July 4 at Detroit but had a no decision in the As 1-0, 10-inning win.
LAST START: He had his third consecutive no decision in the A’s 5-4 loss to Minnesota last Sunday in Oakland…shut out the Twins on one hit and one hit batter over the first four innings and had a 3-0 lead when he allowed a pair of solo home runs to Vazquez and Kirtilloff in the fifth…allowed a one-out single to Kepler in the sixth and was relieved by Erceg with the A’s leading 3-2…Erceg allowed the run to score for the blown save.
