HOUSTON ASTROS NOTES:
GAME #100: The Astros will play their 100th game of the season today in the finale of their four-game series against the A’s in Oakland…on the mound today will be a pair of rookies in Astros RHP Hunter Brown opposite the A’s RHP Luis Medina…Brown has faced the A’s twice before, which came in consecutive starts back in May, going 1-0 with a 2.08 ERA (3ER/13IP) in a pair of Astros victories.
BROTHER BROWN:RHP Hunter Brown has been one of the top rookie performers this year, leading all Major League rookies in pitching WAR (2.2)…he trails only IF Josh Jung (2.7) and 3B Gunnar Henderson (2.3) for the highest WAR of all American League rookies, regardless of position…Brown also leads AL rookies with 99.1 innings pitched, 118 strikeouts and 10.69 strikeouts-per-nine innings (min. 75IP).
RISING TIDES: The Astros enter today’s game trying to get back to 12 games over .500, which would tie their high-water mark for the season…they’ve been 12 games over .500 three times before, after wins on June 3 (35-23), June 5 (36-24) and on Friday (55-43).
AT THE HELM: Astros skipper Dusty Baker, who’s in his 26th season as a manager and his fourth in Houston, is eighth all-time in managerial wins with 2,148…he now immediately trails Bucky Harris (2,158) for seventh on that exclusive list…Baker picked up 840 of those wins just across the bay in San Francisco.
THE ROAD TRIP FINALE: The Astros will conclude their last three-city road trip of the season today in Oakland…the Astros are 5-3 so far on this trip, which has also taken them from Anaheim (2-1) to Colorado (1-1) to Oakland (2-1)…on the season, the Astros are 30-22 (.577) in road games, which is the second-best road winning percentage in the AL, trailing only Baltimore (30-18, .625).
HOMEWARD BOUND: After today’s game, the Astros will return home to Minute Maid Park to host the first-place Rangers in a big three-game series beginning tomorrow night…the homestand will feature nine games across 10 days, which also includes three-game sets with the Rays (July 28-30) and the Guardians (July 31-Aug. 2)…the Astros enter the week looking to improve upon their 25-22 (.532) home record.
VS. OAKLAND: The Astros are 8-1 against the A’s this season and are 14-2 against Oakland in their last 16 matchups…last night’s loss snapped a streak of nine straight wins against the A’s, which ranks as their second-longest win streak vs. OAK in club history…the streak trails only a 10-game run against Oakland, set from July 20, 2016-April 28, 2017…excluding the shortened 2020 season, the Astros have won the season series vs. the A’s in eight straight years (2015-23).
ABOUT LAST NIGHT: The Astros dropped a 4-1 decision last night to the homestanding A’s, who scored all four of their runs in their final three at-bats…RHP Cristian Javier (2ER/5.2IP) started for Houston and received the loss after limiting the A’s to just one hit, while walking a career high six batters…the offense was limited to just six hits on the night and went 0x9 with RISP…Houston scored their only run on a solo homer by 3B Alex Bregman, who’s now homered in three straight games.
YORDAN’S COMEBACK: LF Yordan Alvarez, who’s on the IL with right oblique discomfort, played his third game of an injury rehab assignment with Triple A Sugar Land last night, going 1×2 with a walk and an RBI in a start at DH…Alvarez is now 3×9 with a double, two walks and two RBI in his three rehab games…today is a scheduled day off for Alvarez.
INJURY UPDATES: The Astros have been working through several injuries…below are a few updates on sidelined players:
- 2B Jose Altuve (left oblique strain) participated in full pregame workouts on the field on Thursday and Friday and had a light day yesterday, hitting in the cages and doing infield work… next steps for Altuve’s return have not yet been determined.
- OF Michael Brantley (right shoulder surgery) hit on the field yesterday at the Coliseum, his first time to hit on the field since prior to the All-Star break.
- RHP José Urquidy (right shoulder discomfort) made his second rehab start with Triple A Sugar Land on Wednesday, tossing 3.0 innings and 45 pitches (29 strikes), while allowing two runs on four hits and a walk…Urquidy will need multiple rehab starts prior to an activation from the IL.
THE 100 CLUB: Astros closer RHP Ryan Pressly recorded his 100th career save on Friday, with 99 of those coming as a member of the Astros…he needs one more save to become just the fourth player in club history to reach the 100-save plateau, which would join him with LHP Billy Wagner (225), RHP Dave Smith (199) and RHP Brad Lidge (123).
BREGGY’S BOMBS: 3B Alex Bregman has homered in three straight games, which is the fifth time in his career to do so and the first since May 2-5, 2019…the last Astro to homer in three straight was LF Yordan Alvarez (June 21-23, 2022), while the last Astro to post a longer streak was 1B Yuli Gurriel, who homered in five straight games from July 2-7, 2019.
ROADIE: All-Star RF Kyle Tucker has an active 19-game hitting streak in road games, dating back to June 11…in those contests, Tucker is hitting .432 (32×74) and has reached base safely in 43 of his 86 plate appearances for a .500 OBP…Tucker’s streak is the longest road hit streak by an Astro since 2B Jose Altuve had a 21-game streak in 2016…the franchise record is 26 games, reached by CF César Cedeño over parts of the 1975-76 seasons.
TO THE LEFT, TO THE LEFT: The lefty swinging RF Kyle Tucker is hitting .359 (42×117) vs. left-handed pitchers, which leads the American League…among lefty hitters in the AL, Tucker also ranks third in homers vs. lefties, trailing only DH Shohei Ohtani (9) and 3B Rafael Devers (8).
TUCKER’S HAT TRICK: On Friday night, RF Kyle Tucker connected for his first career three-homer game and the 16th three-homer game in club history…he became the 12th player in club history with a three-homer game and the first since LF Yordan Alvarez also hit three on Sept. 16, 2022 vs. OAK.
GETTIN’ SPICEY: Among players with 225-plus plate appearances, OF Chas McCormick ranks seventh in the AL in SLG (.520) and eighth in OPS (.892)…among Astros players, McCormick ranks second on the club in SLG, trailing only the injured OF Yordan Alvarez (.589 SLG).
TONIGHT’S ASTROS STARTER: RHP HUNTER BROWN
LAST START – 7/18 AT COL: tossed 5.1 innings, allowing 4 runs on 6 hits with 7 strikeouts… threw 99 pitches in his outing…has thrown 95+ pitches in 6 of his last 8 starts.
HISTORIC START: his 140 career strikeouts are the 3rd-most by an Astros pitcher through their 1st 25 career outings, trailing RHP Tom Griffin (158) and RHP Lance McCullers Jr. (150).
- started his career 5-0 through his first 12 games (7 starts)…per Elias, was 1st Astros pitcher to win their first 5 decisions since RHP Josh James won his first 7 decisions from 2018-19.
GROUND CONTROL: ranks 2nd among AL pitchers with a 54.0 ground ball percentage, trailing only teammate Framber Valdez (54.8%)…is the 6th-best ground ball percentage among Major League pitchers.
VS. OAK: will be making his 3rd start against the A’s and 9th appearance against a AL West foe (7th start)…has a 2.08 ERA with a 0.77 WHIP and 19 K’s vs OAK.
LEAGUE LEADERBOARD: among qualified AL rookies, ranks 1st in strikeouts (118), 1st in innings (99.1IP), T-1st in wins (6), and 1st in WHIP (1.32).
DIESEL: is averaging 91.9 mph with his slider, which is the hardest slider among all MLB pitchers, ahead of SD RHP Brent Honeywell (91.8 mph) and TEX RHP Jacob deGrom (91.8 mph) (min 75 PA) per Baseball Savant.
AMONG THE BEST: According to WAR produced by STATS, Brown has been one of the most valuable rookie in the AL this season with a 2.2 WAR…he is behind only TEX IF Josh Jung (2.7) and BAL IF Gunnar Henderson (2.3)…the Astros have had a top five finisher in AL Rookie of the Year voting in 4 straight seasons: SS Jeremy Peña (5th in 2022), RHP Luis Garcia (2nd in 2021), RHP Cristian Javier (3rd in 2020) and LF Yordan Alvarez (1st in 2019).
STRIKEOUT KING: from May 14-May 31, he recorded 8+ K’s in 4 consecutive starts…the last Astros rookie to strike out 8+ batters in 4 consecutive starts was RHP Roy Oswalt, who did so in 6 straight games from Aug. 14-Sept. 9 in 2001…Brown owns 1 of 30 all-time streaks from Astros pitchers of 4+ starts with 8+ strikeouts, with LHP Framber Valdez the last to do so at 4 games from Aug. 4-Sept. 12 in 2022.
SOLID STREAK: made back-to-back starts on April 9 and April 15 in which he recorded at least 7.0 IP without allowing an ER…the last Astros pitcher to do so was LHP Scott Kazmir, who made 2 such starts in a row in 2015 (July 24-July 30, 2015).
OAKLAND ATHLETICS NOTES:
ABOUT THE A’S: Have won three of the last five games but are 3-10 over the last 13 contests…are 16-23 (.410) over the last 39 games dating back to June 6 after going 12-50 (.194) over the first 62 games…are 28-73 (.277) overall, which is the lowest winning percentage in the majors behind the Royals (28- 72, .280)…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 snapped their 14-game losing streak against American League West teams last night, which was the longest such losing streak in Oakland history…it was the A’s first win against a divisional foe since May 12 vs. Texas…are now 5-25 (.167) against the West 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 .198 (190-for-958) with 80 runs scored (2.7 runs per game) against teams from the West and have allowed 186 runs for a run differential of -106.
DAYS OFF: The A’s have the day off tomorrow, which marks their first of four off-days over a 12-day stretch from July 24 to Aug. 4…are 4-7 (.364) following
an off day and the 11 games are tied for second fewest in the majors.
OFFENSE: The A’s walked a season-high tying eight times last night and are batting .219 (61-for-278) with a .320 on-base percentage (38 bb, 5 hbp, 4 sf) since the All-Star Break…overall, rank last in the majors in batting (.221), slugging (.357), OPS (.658), runs (362) and extra base hits (245), third in fewest doubles (135), tied for third in most times shut out (11), fourth in most strikeouts (932), fifth in lowest on-base percentage (.301) and seventh in fewest home runs (95)…rank second in sacrifice hits (19) and tied for fourth in hit by pitches (55).
IN THE PINCH: A’s pinch hitters lead the majors in hits (26), are tied for second in extra base hits (7), rank third in plate appearances (109), tied for third in doubles (5), 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 2.80 ERA (14 er in 45.0 ip) over the last five games, which has lowered the season ERA to 5.92…that is the highest in the majors but it is the lowest it has been since the sixth game of the season (April 5) when it was 5.79…also have the highest opponents on-base percentage in the majors (.356), the second highest slugging percentage (.463) and OPS (.819) and fourth highest batting average (.269)…lead the majors in most home runs (142), walks (430), hit batters (62) and wild pitches (45), are tied for the fewest shutouts (2) and tied for seventh in fewest strikeouts (806)…are the only team without a balk.
STARTING PITCHING: A’s starting pitchers are 1-7 with a 5.78 ERA (49 er in 76.1 ip) in July and are 9-47 with a 6.23 ERA for the season…have the fewest wins in the majors, the second highest ERA and are tied for the second most losses…have tossed 7.1 innings or fewer in each game and have the third fewest innings pitched (466.1)…have used an opener 11 times this year, most recently on July 15.
THE BULLPEN: The A’s bullpen has a win, three saves and a 1.27 ERA (3 er in 21.1 ip) over the last six games but has a 5.73 ERA (69 er in 108.1 ip) over the last 26 contests…has a 5.57 ERA overall, which is the highest in the majors… also the has the most losses (26) and innings pitched (423.2)…has 13 saves over the last 38 games after tallying just four over the first 63…has converted 17-of-34 (50.0%) save opportunities for the season, which is the third lowest percentage in the majors…has the third fewest saves and is tied for the ninth most blown saves (17)…has allowed just 3-of-24 (12.5%) inherited runners to score since the All-Star Break but has allowed 73-of-190 (38.4%) to score overall, which is the fourth highest percentage…has the second most inherited runners.
ON THE BASES: The A’s are 98-for-119 (82.4%) in stolen base attempts…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 76-for-109 (69.7%) in stolen base attempts, which is the second lowest success rate in the majors…the 33 caught stealings are seven more than any other team but the 76 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 seven of the last nine games but have six errors over that span…have three wins over that stretch and two of the wins came in games with errors…have 62 errors for the season, which is third most in the majors…are tied for sixth in fewest double plays (72) and tied for 10th in most passed balls (6).
ONE-RUN GAMES AND THE REST: The A’s are 16-20 (.444) in one-run games and 12-53 (.185) in games decided by two or more runs…that includes a 2-18 record in games decided by seven or more runs…16 of the A’s 28 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 -257, 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 28 victories (46.4%)…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 3-6 on this 10-game homestand against Minnesota (0-3), Boston (2-1) and Houston (1-2)…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 15-38 (.283) 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…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 second worst road record in the majors ahead of the Royals (13- 36, .265)…have compiled a 5.17 ERA (281 er in 489.0 ip) at home compared to 6.80 on the road.
THIS AND THAT: The A’s are 4-27 (.129) in the final game of a series…are 22-35 (.386) in night games, 6-38 (.136) during the day…are 8-7 (.533) on Tuesday, 6-10 (.375) on Friday and 14-56 (.200) on all other days of the week…have used 53 players, which is the most in the majors…employed a franchise record 64 players last year…have employed 33 pitchers, which is tied with the Rays and Reds for the most in the majors and is one short of the Athletics record of 34 (2018, 2022)…have set an Athletics record with 29 relievers… have used the injured list 25 times…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 A’S VS. ASTROS
- The A’s are 1-8 and have lost the season series for the eighth time in the last nine years.
- Snapped a nine-game losing streak last night, which was their second longest every against Houston (10, July 20, 2016-April 28, 2017).
- Have lost 14 of the last 16 games, including nine of the last 10 at Minute Maid Park.
- Are 60-92 (.395) 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 1-5 0-3 1-8
2022 4-5 3-7 7-12
Oakland History: 91-105
at the Coliseum: 51-51
at Minute Maid Park: 40-54
TODAY’S TIDBITS
Aledmys Díaz is 7-for-18 (.389) in seven games against Houston this year and is a .368 (14-for-38) hitter in 14 career games against the Astros…Tony Kemp is batting .310 (30-for-97) with a .391 on-base percentage (10 bb, 3 hbp) over his last 29 games dating back to June 15, after hitting .146 with a .244 on-base percentage over his first 51 contests…Trevor May has converted each of his seven save opportunities over his last 12 games and has a 1.59 ERA (2 er in 11.1 ip) over that span.
TODAY’S STARTING PITCHER: Luis Medina (3-7, 5.79 ERA)
FOR STARTERS: Is scheduled to make his 14th appearance and 10th start of the season…is 2-1 with a 3.12 ERA (9 er in 26.0 ip) and .222 (22-for-99) opponents batting average over his last five games after going 1-6 with a 7.55 ERA and .288 opponents average over his first eight contests…was recalled from Triple-A Las Vegas May 11 for his second stint with the A’s this year… was called up for the first time on April 25, started and lost the next day at Los Angeles (AL) in his Major League debut, and was optioned back to Las Vegas on April 27.
STARTING AND RELIEVING: Is 2-6 with a 6.04 ERA (30 er in 44.2 ip) in nine starts and is 1-1 with a 5.23 ERA (12 er in 20.2 ip) in four games where he pitched in relief in a game started by an opener (Waldichuk on May 28 vs. Houston, Moll on June 9 at Milwaukee, Waldichuk on June 20 at Cleveland, Long on July 7 at Boston)…has tossed at least 4.1 innings in 12 of his 13 games, with the exception being a start of 2.0 innings in a 12-1 loss at Miami on June 3…his season high is 6.0 innings in starts on May 11, May 17 and July 7.
OPPONENTS BATTING: Has a .263 (41-for-156) opponents batting average with nine home runs against right-handed hitters (17.3 at bats per home run) and a .263 (26-for-99) average and two home runs against left-handers (49.5 at bats per home run)…opponents are batting .228 (33-for-145) with the bases empty, .309 (34-for-110) with runners on…seven of the 11 home runs he has allowed have come with the bases empty…has a .406 (13-for-42) opponents batting average and four home runs against the first hitter in the order but has held the three hitter to a mark of .167 (5-for-30).
AGAINST THE WEST: Is 0-4 with a 7.48 ERA (18 er in 21.2 ip) and .969 opponents OPS in four games against American League West competition compared to 3-3 with a 4.95 ERA (24 er in 43.2 ip) and .764 OPS in nine games against all other teams…has surrendered eight of his 10 home runs to AL West foes.
THIS AND THAT: Has allowed just one home in his last eight games and 37.2 innings after surrendering 10 home runs in his first five games and 27.2 innings…has walked one batter in four of his last six appearances…the two exceptions were a five walk game on June 30 and a seven-walk game on June 26…is tied for sixth in the majors in wild pitches (7)…is 3-4 with a 4.79 ERA (25 er in 47.0 ip) and .766 OPS in nine night games, 0-3 with an 8.35 ERA (16 er in 18.1 ip) and .987 OPS in four day games…has allowed 16 of his 44 runs in the second inning for a 10.95 ERA (15 er in 12.1 ip)…picked up his first win of the season June 9 after starting the season 0-5…is one of four Oakland pitchers this year to start the season 0-4 or worse…Rucinski and Fujinami also started the year 0-4 and Kaprielian was 0-6…the A’s are 2-7 in his starting assignments and 3-10 when he pitches.
2023 DAY-BY-DAY: Began the season at Triple-A Las Vegas and was 0-0 with a 3.86 ERA in three starts when he was recalled by Oakland on April 25… made his Major League debut the next day with a start at Los Angeles (AL) and was the losing pitcher in the A’s 11-3 loss…became the 59th pitcher in Oakland history to start in his ML debut, the third this year (Fujinami on April 1, Miller on April 19)…allowed eight runs in 5.0 innings, which match the most runs in Oakland history by a pitcher in his debut…the first pitcher to do it was Fujinami earlier this year on April 1…it matches the most runs by an Athletics pitcher in his debut over the last 103 years (fifth time)…in addition to runs, he also had a career high in hits (8)…was optioned back to Las Vegas on April 27 and went 0-1 with a 15.75 ERA in two starts before he was recalled by Oakland a second time on May 11…matched his career high with 6.0 innings pitched on May 11 against Texas and May 17 against Arizona…his fifth career appearance on May 28 against Houston came in relief of opener Ken Waldichuk…allowed a career high three home runs and took the loss in a 10-1 decision…started in his next outing on June 3 at Miami but took the loss after allowing six runs on six hits and four walks in 2.0 innings… it was the shortest start of his career…it gave him a career-opening streak of six consecutive games with three or more runs allowed, which matched the longest such streak in Oakland history…joins Mike Morgan (June 11, 1978- July 7, 1979) and Dillon Overton (June 25-Sept. 15, 2016)…pitched in relief of opener Sam Moll on June 9 at Milwaukee and picked up his first Major League win in the A’s 5-2 victory…allowed two runs on three hits in5.0 innings…allowed a career-high tying eight hits in 4.2 innings in a start and loss to Tampa Bay on June 14…had a no decision in the A’s 3-2, 10-inning loss at Cleveland on June 20…pitched in relief of opener Ken Waldichuk and was the pitcher of record when he was relieved by Moll with a 2-0 lead in the seventh…Moll allowed an inherited runner to score plus a run of his own for the blown save…walked a career-high seven batters in 5.0 innings in a 12-1 loss at Toronto on June 25…is one of two A’s pitchers to walk seven batters in a game over the last eight years (Kaprielian earlier this year on April 14)… logged a career-high 100 pitches in 5.0 innings on June 30 against Chicago (AL) but allowed just one run for the win…struck out a career-high nine batters in a career-high tying 6.0 innings in relief of opener Sam Long on July 7 at Boston.
LAST START: He combined with Long, Fujinami, Moll and May on a five-hit shutout in the A’s 3-0 win over Boston last Tuesday in Oakland…tossed 5.2 innings and allowed three of the hits…allowed two runners to advance into scoring position.
