A’s can’t complete home sweep of Astros

OAKLAND, Calif. The Oakland A’s came into Wednesday having not swept a three-game series at home all year, but with a chance to get the job done following wins Monday and Tuesday over first-place Houston.

The A’s didn’t get there, not with the Astros doing what they do best, hitting homers. Houston clubbed bombs off four different A’s pitchers en route to an 11-5 win over Oakland to close out the A’s homestand. Houston is tied with Toronto for the A.L. homers lead with 192.

Three of Wednesday’s four homers were solo shots. The one that wasn’t was a two-run blast by Evan Gattis that pushed the Astros lead by the end of the fifth inning to 7-0.

It was at that time the A’s tried to rally, beginning with a solo homer to right-center from Billy Butler that stretched his hitting streak to 10 games. By the time the bottom of the fifth was over, the A’s had four runs, the final two on a Josh Reddick blast.

Reddick chose Wednesday to bring back George Michael’s “Careless Whisper” as his walk-up music. Reddick, who used it to great effect last year, had said he wouldn’t use it again, but with his 16th homer getting the A’s back in the game for a moment, he may reconsider.

Oakland’s offense was limited in that relievers Pat Venditte, R.J. Alvarez and Fernando Abad each gave up a homer, so the Astros, who’d gotten five runs, one on a homer off A’s starter Aaron Brooks, were able to keep adding runs. Houston scored at least one run in every inning from the fourth on.

Brooks fell behind in the second inning on Colby Rasmus’ homer, but the real damage cropped up in the fourth when a Gattis single and a Rasmus double put a three-run inning in motion. Hank Conger had a two-run single and Jose Altuve drove in a run with a two-out double.

The A’s lifted brooks after a leadoff double in the fifth, but Oakland switch-pitching reliever Pat Venditte ran afoul of Gattis on the way to helping the Astros to another three-run inning. Carlos Gomez homered off Alvarez in the sixth and Marwin Gonzalez off Fernando Abad in the seventh.

Thanks to Butler and Reddick Oakland has homered in 15 consecutive games. That matches the longest streak in the Major League this year, set by the Rockies May 21-June 3.

Reddick’s two RBI move him to 68 on the season, pushing him past Stephen Vogt (67) for the Oakland lead.

A ninth-inning throwing error was the 34th of the season for A’s shortstop Marcus Semien. That tied the Oakland record set in 1968 by shortstop Bert Campaneris.

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