Oakland Athletics vs Houston Astros Match Player Stats On Apr 09, 2021

Matt Olson crushed a tiebreaking, three-run home run with one out in the eighth inning and the visiting Oakland Athletics defeated the Houston Astros for the first time in six games, 6-2, on Friday.

Olson belted a 2-1 slider from Astros reliever Blake Taylor 414 feet and halfway into the upper deck in right field. Taylor, who entered in relief of right-hander Bryan Abreu (1-1) with one on in the inning, surrendered a single to Jed Lowrie before Olson went deep.

Lowrie and Mark Canha added homers for the Athletics, who were swept at home by the Astros in a four-game set to open the season before dropping the opener of this series on Thursday. Canha cranked a two-run shot off Astros right-hander Joe Smith in the top of the ninth.

Three Oakland relievers controlled the Astros in support of left-hander Sean Manaea, who limited Houston to one run on six hits and one walk with four strikeouts in six innings. Houston pulled even at 1-1 in the fourth when Kyle Tucker hit a groundout that scored Yuli Gurriel.

Lowrie opened the top of the fourth with a home run to right, his first of the season, against Astros starter Lance McCullers Jr. Lowrie turned on a 2-1 knuckle-curve to spot Oakland a 1-0 lead, and McCullers labored for the remainder of that frame to spot his breaking pitch. He issued walks to Matt Chapman and Seth Brown and sidestepped a throwing error by shortstop Carlos Correa.

McCullers escaped the jam thanks to the defense of Gurriel, who smothered a sharp grounder from Elvis Andrus despite playing in at first with the bases loaded. Gurriel threw home to erase Chapman for the second out, and McCullers rallied with a strikeout of Aramis Garcia to end the inning.

McCullers allowed one run on two hits and three walks with six strikeouts over five innings.

--Field Level Media