After Houston fell into a quick one-run hole Josh Oliver Jersey , Evan Gattis appreciated how the Astros came right back swinging.
Fences-clearing swings.
”It’s like let `em know we’re here, you know?” he said.
Gattis hit a three-run homer and drove in five runs, Carlos Correa returned from a four-game absence and homered on the first pitch he saw, and the Astros beat the Oakland Athletics 6-3 on Tuesday night for their sixth straight win.
Gattis has seven homers and 20 RBIs over his last 14 games.
”It’s been good for the last month,” he said. ”It’s easy to lose sight of that when you have a couple games where it’s like 1 for 8 or 9 or something like that the last couple games in Texas. It’s good to kind of sustain it a little bit.”
Lance McCullers Jr. (8-3) struck out five over seven strong innings, allowing two runs and five hits while winning a second straight decision. He surrendered Stephen Piscotty’s sacrifice fly in the second and then kept Oakland’s powerful order in check.
Correa was back in the lineup at shortstop after missing a series sweep at Texas with soreness in his right side after leaving last Wednesday’s game against the Mariners following an at-bat in the seventh inning.
Oakland scored on a wild pitch in the first before the Astros answered against Daniel Mengden (6-6). Correa homered leading off the second. Gattis hit his 11th homer three batters later, and then chased Mengden with a two-run double with two outs in the fifth.
”He’s obviously seeing the ball and he’s putting the barrel on it and coming up with huge hits, a lot of them doing damage,” manager A.J. Hinch said.
Matt Chapman hit three doubles before being hit by a pitch in the left hand in the eighth by Collin McHugh. X-rays were negative. Chapman’s three doubles matched the Oakland single-game record, done for the 28th time and first since Matt Joyce last Sept. 27.
”He’s using the whole field, seeing the ball early. Earlier in the season he was similar to this but right now I think he’s seeing the ball as well as he has all year Deandre Baker Jersey ,” A’s manager Bob Melvin said. ”You’re seeing that the last few games.”
Ken Giles finished for his 11th save in 11 tries as the World Series champions moved to 6-1 so far this season against the A’s.
Both teams left the bases loaded in the fourth.
Mengden was charged with six runs and eight hits.
BIG-TIME PARADE
The A’s had some fun with the NBA Golden State Warriors’ victory parade through downtown Oakland on Tuesday.
”We’re back after a day off and Oakland even had a parade to celebrate us returning,” the A’s posted on Twitter.
SPECIAL NOD
Hinch is making a special addition to his All-Star coaching staff for next month’s game in Washington: Retired Astros first base coach Rich Dauer will be in uniform and assisting Hinch.
”Just like old times,” Hinch said.
Last November, Dauer was rushed to a hospital immediately after Houston’s victory parade to celebrate its first World Series title. He survived a difficult surgery on a blood clot in his brain.
Dauer played for the Baltimore Orioles from 1976-85, winning a World Series in 1983. Dauer was hired by the Astros after the 2014 season.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Astros: There’s no structural issue with RHP Joe Smith’s sore elbow that put him on the disabled list last week. Smith saw a couple of different doctors and for now it’s just going to take time to let the inflammation calm down, Hinch said.
Athletics: The A’s plan to make a decision as soon as Wednesday on whether RHP Trevor Cahill will need a stint on the DL, which seems likely given his Achilles injury is not improving. Melvin expects RHP Chris Bassitt would return from Triple-A Nashville to replace Cahill in the rotation. ”If we do this, he deserves another chance,” Melvin said. … LHP Brett Anderson is scheduled for his first bullpen session Wednesday as he works back from a strained shoulder that landed him on the DL on May 19.
UP NEXT
Astros: RHP Gerrit Cole (7-1, 2.16 ERA) totaled 21 strikeouts to just four earned runs allowed in his first two starts against the A’s this season.
Athletics: RHP Paul Blackburn (1-0, 1.50 ERA) makes his second start since coming off the 60-day DL after he was sidelined with a strained forearm.
—
PHOENIX — The San Francisco Giants extended their best month in exactly two years with a victory at Arizona on Friday http://www.newyorkgiantsteamonline.com/oshane-ximines-jersey , given a huge boost by rookie outfielder Austin Slater and left-hander Andrew Suarez.
At 17-10, the Giants are having their first winning month since June 2016, and with a victory in the second game of the three-game series Saturday, they will have one more victory than they had that June.
Slater had three hits, including two RBI doubles, in a Giants 2-1 victory on Friday, his sixth day back on his fourth recall from Triple-A Sacramento this season. Suarez gave up one run in six innings and ran his streak to 13 starts without walking more than two.
“He really has that composure out there,” San Francisco manager Bruce Bochy said of Suarez. “He’s got some savvy out there. He knows when to make his pitches. He knows when to be careful, too.”
The Diamondbacks will send right-hander Shelby Miller (0-1, 12.27 ERA) to the mound Saturday for his second start since returning from Tommy John surgery in an attempt so salvage another series win.
The D-backs are 5-0-1 in their last six series since losing two of three at San Francisco from June 4-6. Giants rookie right-hander Dereck Rodriguez (2-1, 3.82) will make his sixth start of the season on Saturday. Rodriguez has never faced Arizona Julian Love Jersey , but he allowed just one run and four hits over seven innings in his most recent start, on Sunday against San Diego. He did not get a decision but the Giants won the game 3-2.
Miller, who underwent Tommy John surgery last May, made his first start of the season in Miami on Monday, when he gave up six hits and five runs in 3 2/3 innings while reaching 95-96 mph on the radar gun.
“The fastball command was outstanding,” Arizona manager Torey Lovullo said. “I know he is working on his secondary stuff. That’s to be expected. Knowing that he has taken a 15-month journey to get to this point, it’s not going to be a perfect science right away. The secondary pitches are feel pitches, and I know that he is working hard. Landing the second stuff is something that we are hoping to see. We know we see it in bullpens and at different tunes. I know that Shelby is going to be ready for that challenge.”
Miller, the key return in the trade that sent Ender Inciarte and Dansby Swanson to Atlanta at the 2015 winter meetings, used words of encouragement from Patrick Corbin and the Arizona training staff to get through rehab. Corbin underwent Tommy John in the spring of 2014 season and missed the whole year.
“I talked to Corbin a lot,” Miller said. “The guys in the training room http://www.newyorkgiantsteamonline.com/darius-slayton-jersey , day in and day out they were giving me reassurance. What to expect. I leaned on them and relied on them a lot. They were big. I am definitely feeling good.”
Miller admitted to feeling some nerves before the Miami start.
“For sure,” he said. “It is different than any other game. It is a big day. I had some minor league rehab starts, but those don’t even compare to the games that are mattering up here. I definitely had some jitters.”
Miller is 2-5 with a 3.51 ERA in nine career starts against the Giants.
Slater has been tearing up the Pacific Coast League in his time between stints in San Francisco. He is slashing .344/.417/.564 with 24 doubles and five homers in 53 games with the River Cats. His 24 doubles were second in the league, and his batting average was sixth when was promoted again last Saturday.
With third baseman Evan Longoria expected to miss at least another month, manager Bruce Bochy mentioned the possibility of giving Slater more time, especially against left-handed pitchers.
Slater is hitting at least .300 against righties and lefties in Sacramento this season, and during his short stay wth the Giants before a leg injury in 2017 hit .333 in 38 plate appearances against lefties.
“We’re missing a right-handed bat, and he could provide that,” Bochy said. “Not that other guys can’t, but you look at what he did tonight and what he’s been doing. He’s going to help stretch out this lineup and us some added offense, which we need against lefties.”
Even with veterans in the outfield Quinnen Williams Jersey , “You have to go with the guys who are swinging the bat well,” Bochy said. “They dictate their lineup.”
Slater has made three starts since being recalled the most recent time Saturday.
“The first couple of times up and down, it is easy to lose focus,” Slater said. “But for me it was try to prove a point that it wasn’t a fluke, that I was here to stay.”