Athletics Walk Off Astros 3-1

Hero of the night: Nick Kurtz

The A’s pushed their winning streak to four games in epic fashion on Monday night, walking off on a mammoth home run to beat the Houston Astros 3-1 for the team’s 30th win. Who doesn’t love a good walk off?

Taking the ball for the home team tonight was right-hander Mitch Spence. Making just his third start of the season after shifting back into a starter’s role, Spence made an early mistake to longtime A’s killer Jose Altuve, missing with a slider down the middle that got deposited into the

That wound up being the only major mistake that Spence would allow tonight. Over the next four frames he wiggled in and out of trouble here and there, bending but not breaking against a Houston lineup that has lost a lot of star power in recent years but is still dangerous.

• Mitch Spence: 5 IP, 7 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 2 K, 84 pitches

Yet another five solid inning performance from the second-year pitcher. He’s now got three starts under his belt this season and has only allowed two runs in 15 frames. That’s the type of production that the A’s needed earlier this season and they had an arm capable of delivering just that this whole time. Better late than never, I suppose. He’ll be lined up to take the ball this weekend for his fourth start against the Cleveland Guardians.

On the other side of things, the Astros had to turn to right-hander Ryan Gusto for the spot start after scheduled starting pitcher Lance McCullers Jr. was placed on the IL earlier in the day. One would think that’d give the A’s the advantage but it wound up being the exact opposite.

Over the game’s first four innings the A’s managed just one hit, a 2-out single from Max Muncy that went to waste. Muncy not only had the team’s first and only hit for a while, he also made an insane play at the hot corner to help keep this game close:

That’s one heck of a throw right there. Muncy would finish the game 2-for-3 (the only A’s hitter with multiple hits tonight) and is now hitting .296 with two home runs over his last seven games, continuing to get more and more comfortable as the A’s primary third baseman. How will the team handle Gio Urshela’s imminent return?

The A’s finally got some offense going against Gusto in the bottom of the fifth when JJ Bleday took the rookie deep for a solo home run to tie this game up:

He knew he got all of that from the moment it left his bat. Gusto finished the frame before giving way to the bullpen. It would be a battle of relievers the rest of the way.

For the Athletics, right-handed rookie J.T. Ginn came on next after Spence. On the same day he was activated off the injured list, Ginn provided three quality innings from the bullpen, helping preserve the rest of the relief unit for the rest of the series. The 26-year-old only allowed one single while also racking up an impressive five strikeouts. It was a triumphant return to the A’s after missing just under a month due to injury, and it seems as though a long man role was waiting for him when he returned. He’s likely still a starting pitcher long-term but he took well to his new role. Closer Mason Miller came on for the ninth and had a perfect frame with a pair of strikeouts, sending this game to the bottom of the ninth.

The Astros on the other hand had four innings to go and went with four relievers. The first three provided scoreless appearances to get this game to the ninth. The A’s were ready to get out of here. A leadoff walk to Brent Rooker brought up first baseman Nick Kurtz, who called game on the fourth pitch he saw and crushed his seventh home run of his rookie season:

What a win! After only having one hit for the first half of this game the bats woke up. It took a couple home runs to push the runs across tonight but that’s how the A’s play, and they win when they connect on their homers. The club is still in last place in the AL West but we got our 30th win of the year and are riding a fun four-game winning streak, the longest of the year for the team. Spence was awesome yet again, Ginn looked good in his return to the mound, a couple key hits saved the day, and the club is starting to look more like the club they did in April than May.

One bit of disappointing news. Jacob Wilson did not collect a hit tonight, going 0-for-4 and costing someone out there a lot of money:

Owch. That’s gotta sting.

These two teams will now head back home and rest up for tomorrow evening’s second game of this four-game series. The Astros have not yet announced their starting pitcher, while the A’s will turn to left-hander JP Sears to extend this winning streak to five games. Have a good night A’s fans!