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Yordan Álvarez, Houston Astros crush hapless Oakland A’s
Oakland Athletics catcher Shea Langeliers, left, reacts as Houston Astros’ Jake Meyers, right, celebrates after hitting a three-run home run that scored Yainer Diaz (21) and Corey Julks (9) during the fourth inning of a baseball game in Oakland, Calif., Sunday, May 28, 2023. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)
OAKLAND – A small positive for Oakland A’s right-hander Luis Medina as he continues to gain experience at the Major League level is that he’s only allowed 28 hits through his first 27 2/3 innings pitched.
The bad news for the 24-year-old Medina is that 10 of those hits have been home runs, including the three he gave up Sunday in the A’s 10-1 loss to the Houston Astros before an announced crowd of 8,809 at the Coliseum.
Medina allowed home runs to Jake Meyers, Chas McCormick, and Jose Altuve as the Astros swept the three-game series and handed the A’s their 11th straight loss, their longest losing streak in close to three decades. Meyers’ homer was a three-run shot in the fourth inning, and McCormick and Altuve hit back-to-back solo shots in the top of the seventh.
The A’s allowed an Oakland record seven home runs in all, with Yordan Álvarez hitting two, and José Abreu and Jeremy Peña each connecting on one.
Abreu took Sam Long deep in the eighth inning for his first homer of the season. Abreu then sprinted around the bases even after the ball cleared the left field wall, and raced and slid before he arrived at the Houston dugout.
It was one of the finishing touches to another loss for Oakland, which hadn’t lost more than 10 in a row since a 12-game losing streak from Sept. 22, 1995, to April 4, 1996.
The A’s begin a three-game series against the Atlanta Braves on Monday.
Ken Waldichuk started Sunday as the A’s began the game with an opener for the second straight day, with similar results. After Austin Pruitt allowed two earned runs in the first inning of Saturday’s 6-3 A’s loss to the Astros, Waldichuk struck out two in the first but also allowed a solo homer to Álvarez on a 93 mph fastball.
The A’s got that run back in the bottom of the first as Ryan Noda, in the leadoff post, hit a solo home run to right off Astros starter Cristian Javier. Noda later doubled in the third inning.
But the A’s couldn’t slow down the Astros, as Meyers hit a three-run homer to left in the fourth inning off Luis Medina to give Houston a 4-1 lead. The A’s are now 0-6 against the Astros this season and 4-23 against American League West opponents.
