A pair of teams from the AL West do battle as they open up a weekend series in a crowd with literally hundreds of fans in attendance out in northern California. The Houston Astros are on the road as they make the trip to face the Oakland A’s in the first game of a three-game series Friday night. Houston dropped the rubber game of a three-game set on the road with the Brewers as they were blanked 4-0 Wednesday. Oakland finished up a four-game series with Seattle Thursday night hoping to avoid a sweep as they were dropped 6-1 Wednesday night. The Astros swept the first series between the teams, taking three straight at home May 19-21.
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Houston had won three straight and 11 of 12 following Monday’s win in Milwaukee only to get blanked in back-to-back games to close their set with the Brewers. The Astros entered Thursday 28-21 on the season and stood second in the AL West, three games behind the Rangers for the division lead. On Wednesday, Houston finished with just four hits with no player having more than one. Alex Bregman had the lone extra-base hit, a double, and the Astros went zero for four with runners in scoring position. Brandon Bielak (1-2) took the loss on the mound as he threw 6.2 innings, allowing four runs on five hits with one walk and three strikeouts.
Hunter Brown is on the bump for the Astros as he logs his 10th start of the year in this contest. He comes in 4-1 with a 3.20 ERA, a 1.263 WHIP, 17 walks and 56 strikeouts over 50.2 innings of work on the year. Brown didn’t factor in the decisi on in his last start, which came at home against the A’s Saturday. He threw six innings, allowing two runs (one earned) on five hits with no walks and nine strikeouts in a game the Astros went on to win 3-2. In his last three starts, Brown is 1-0 with a 4.50 ERA, a 1.44 WHIP, two walks and 20 strikeouts over 16 innings of work. Brown’s start Sunday against the A’s was his first career outing against them, leaving him with no record, a 1.50 ERA, a 0.833 WHIP, no walks and nine strikeouts over six innings of work. In his 17th career major league appearance and 12th start, Brown pitches at the RingCentral Coliseum for the first time.