Oakland Athletics vs Houston Astros Box Score on Jul 07, 2021

Jose Altuve and Kyle Tucker belted home runs and the Houston Astros extended their winning streak to six games with a 4-3 win over the visiting Oakland Athletics on Wednesday.

Altuve and Tucker both went deep against Athletics left-hander Sean Manaea (6-6), who had retired 12 consecutive batters before Tucker broke a 3-3 tie with his 14th home run with one out in the seventh inning. Tucker drilled a first-pitch sinker into the seats behind the home bullpen.

Altuve erased a 1-0 deficit with his 19th home run, a three-run shot to left field in the third.

Manaea allowed four runs (three earned) on four hits over 6 2/3 innings. He struck out six without issuing a walk.

With Houston winning the first two contests of the three-game set, Oakland is 0-5-1 in its past six series. The Astros extended their American League West lead to 5 1/2 games over the second-place A's.

The Athletics were undone by their inability to deliver with runners in scoring position. Oakland erased a 3-1 deficit in the sixth against Astros reliever Cristian Javier via a leadoff home run from Elvis Andrus and a Javier wild pitch that enabled Matt Olson to score the tying run.

However, the Olson tally was the lone run Oakland scored despite loading the bases with no outs following Andrus' second home run of the season. Astros left fielder Michael Brantley lent defensive support by erasing Ramon Laureano at home when he tried to score on a flyout.

Altuve committed a pair of fielding errors at second base in the seventh, and Oakland had runners on the corners against Astros left-hander Blake Taylor (2-2) with one out yet failed to break a 3-3 tie. Oakland finished 1-for-8 with runners in scoring position and stranded six baserunners overall.

Astros right-hander Luis Garcia found trouble three batters into the first, allowing a solo homer to Olson on an 0-1 cutter. Olson drove his 21st home run 398 feet into the second deck in right.

Garcia allowed just one additional baserunner -- stranding Seth Brown at second following a leadoff walk in the third -- before having to work his way out of trouble in the fifth inning.

Garcia sidestepped a two-out double from Chad Pinder that pushed Brown to third, recording a called third strike on Tony Kemp with a 3-2 changeup. He gave up one run on two hits and two walks and seven strikeouts in five innings. Garcia recorded 17 swings and misses on his 88 pitches.

--Field Level Media