WEST SACRAMENTO — The Astros were hoping a day off, a switch of scenery, a new time zone, a different opponent — anything — would help them shake off last weekend’s sweep at the hands of the Mariners in Houston and change their fortunes entering a crucial final six games on the schedule.
The A’s probably weren’t the best team to ask to play the role of patsy considering they had won their previous five games against the Astros earlier this season and have proven to be a difficult matchup. The A’s ran that streak to six in a row Tuesday night by handing the Astros a 5-1 loss at Sutter Health Park that dealt a crippling blow to Houston’s playoff chances.
“This is the sprint to the end, man,” Astros manager Joe Espada said. “This is what it takes. Every team is fatigued, no one is 100 percent. We have to go deep inside of us and see how bad we want it. That’s what it comes down to.”
With five games remaining in the regular season, the Astros (84-73) are one game behind the freefalling Tigers (85-72) for the third Wild Card in the American League, and Detroit owns the tiebreaker. In essence, the Astros are two games behind the Tigers — and Guardians, who also won the tiebreaker over Houston — and are in danger of missing the playoffs for the first time since 2016.
“Sometimes you go on a cold streak, and it sucks for us [that] it’s happening right now toward the end of the year when we need it the most,” shortstop Mauricio Dubón said. “It’s baseball, but we’ve got to wake up.”
The Astros managed only three singles Tuesday — none of which came after the third inning. Oakland pitching sent down 18 of the final 20 Houston hitters. The Astros are hitting .178 (23-for-129) as a team and have scored eight total runs during their four-game losing streak.
That left veteran first baseman Christian Walker to wonder if Astros hitters were putting too much pressure on themselves, himself included.
“There’s no question there’s a lot on the line, but the conversations we have often amongst ourselves is, ‘Does trying harder help?’” Walker said. “A game [on] Sept. 24 matters just as much as a game [on] April 24. For us, it’s about staying the course. We’ve been a good team all year. We prepare the right way, we work hard, we’re ready for this moment, we’re ready to get hot and earn our way into the postseason. We’ve just got to trust that we’re ourselves out there and everything will be all right.”
Walker said most players crave pressure, but there’s a fine line between embracing that challenge and feeling the weight of the moment hovering over you at the plate.
“I think that brings the best out of us, to a certain extent,” he said. “Where it turns to pressing? Everybody’s got to answer that question on their own. Does a little more heightened awareness help sometimes? For sure. It’s trying to figure when it just turns into maybe a little out of control or trying to do too much. It’s a tough line. It’s what makes this game hard and beautiful and trying to navigate the effort level of the course of a long season.”
Astros starter Cristian Javier lasted only 4 2/3 innings, giving up four runs (three earned) and six hits while striking out four. Houston loaded the bases with no outs in the second against Jeffrey Springs but managed only one run on a Cam Smith sac fly.
The lack of clutch hits from the offense and short outings by an injury-riddled starting rotation are two of the reasons Houston might have a rare October off.
“We’re running out of days, running out games,” Espada said. “We need more consistent, quality at-bats, and when we do that, we’re in good shape. Today wasn’t the case.”
After sweeping the Dodgers in early July, the Astros were 55-35, hitting .261/.326/.413 as a team and averaging 4.4 runs per game. In the 67 games since, they’re hitting .236/.302/.375, averaging 3.9 runs per game and are 29-38.
Sure, the Astros have been without slugger Yordan Alvarez for much of the season and lost All-Star third baseman Isaac Paredes for two months with a hamstring strain. All-Star shortstop Jeremy Peña’s been out the last two games with an ill-timed oblique injury. The Astros have been undermanned all year, but Espada believes the talent on the field now is enough.
“A few months ago, we were scoring runs and doing some things offensively and creating enough consistency for us to win games in a row and win series in a row,” he said. “We’re missing some bats, we’re missing some players, but we do have enough talent in that room to overcome those challenges and that hasn’t been the case day in and day out. We’ve just got to find some quality at-bats here in the next five games and make a strong push.”
