Houston @ Oakland preview

Last Meeting ( Aug 8, 2015 ) Houston 1, Oakland 2

Despite holding a slim lead atop the American League West, the Houston Astros have found life on the road difficult recently. The Astros eye a series split and look to win away from home for only the third time in 16 games on Sunday when they finish a four-game set against the last-place Oakland Athletics.

Houston opened this series with a 5-4, 10-inning victory on Thursday for its seventh win in eight games against Oakland before Sonny Gray and Jesse Chavez guided the Athletics to a pair of low-scoring victories the next two days. The Astros, who had won five straight in Oakland prior to the back-to-back setbacks, has only scratched across three runs in 23 innings against the Athletics’ starting pitchers in this series. While Houston has posted one run in consecutive contests, Jose Altuve has continued to hit atop the Astros’ lineup, going 6-for-14 in this series to extend his hitting streak at O.Co Coliseum to 19 games. Oakland is a major-league worst 12-26 in one-run games despite Saturday’s 2-1 win and will attempt to win a series for the first time since taking two of three at home versus Minnesota coming out of the All-Star break.
TV: 4:05 p.m. ET, ROOT (Houston), CSN California (Oakland)

PITCHING MATCHUP: Astros RH Mike Fiers (5-9, 4.17 ERA) vs. Athletics RH Chris Bassitt (1-4, 2.64)
Fiers, who was scheduled to make his Astros’ debut on Tuesday, was rocked in relief instead one day earlier while surrendering six runs over five innings at Texas. The 30-year-old went 21-28 with a 3.66 ERA in 71 appearances (56 starts) with Milwaukee before getting traded along with Carlos Gomez to Houston in a six-player deal on July 30. Ike Davis (0-for-3, two strikeouts) is the only Athletic to face Fiers, who will square off against Oakland for the first time.
Bassitt was rewarded with his second career win on Tuesday after yielding five hits and two walks while fanning a career-high seven over seven scoreless frames against Baltimore. The 26-year-old Ohio native went 0-4 over his first five turns despite not allowing more than three runs in any of those outings. Bassitt has faced Houston only once, giving up three runs (one earned) across 4 1/3 innings in relief during his season debut on April 25.

WALK-OFFS
1. Houston has eight players with at least 10 home runs this season, one shy of matching a team record. Altuve (nine) and Hank Conger (eight) are closing in on 10.
2. Oakland CF Billy Burns has 23 stolen bases, the most for any rookie in the majors this season and most for an Athletics’ rookie since Luis Polonia swiped 29 bases in 1987.
3. The Astros optioned RHP Asher Wojciechowski to Triple-A Fresno on Saturday to make room for LHP Oliver Perez, who was acquired Friday from Arizona. Perez is expected to be available out of the bullpen for the finale.

PREDICTION: Athletics 4, Astros 2