Oakland 4, Houston 0
When: 8:10 PM ET, Tuesday, April 14, 2015
Where: Minute Maid Park, Houston, Texas
Temperature:
Indoors
Umpires:
Home -
Todd Tichenor, 1B -
Tim Welke, 2B -
Mike Everitt, 3B -
Tim Timmons
Attendance:
18935
By The Sports Xchange
HOUSTON -- Right-hander Kendall Graveman rebounded from a rough debut and four relievers helped preserve the Oakland Athletics' 4-0 shutout over the Houston Astros on Tuesday night at Minute Maid Park.
Graveman (1-1), shelled in his Athletics debut last week against the Texas Rangers, worked into the sixth inning and allowed four hits and four walks while striking out three en route to his first major league win.
The Astros threatened throughout, but Oakland's defense bailed Graveman out with two inning-ending double plays. The Astros (3-5) stranded 11 runners. Houston went 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position.
Oakland left-handers Eric O'Flaherty and Fernando Abad and right-handers Dan Otero and Tyler Clippard recorded the final 14 outs.
Clippard worked around a one-out single in the ninth inning to close out the game as Oakland (5-4) clinched the three-game series.
Houston suffered its second shutout loss and has scored four runs in its five setbacks. Right-hander Brad Peacock (0-1) suffered the loss.
It was hardly a surprise that Peacock appeared somewhat susceptible early, not just because Tuesday marked his first start of the season, but also that Peacock had only one injury rehab start under his belt prior to his unexpected activation from the 15-day disabled list.
Athletics center fielder Sam Fuld greeted Peacock with a leadoff double in the top of the first inning, and Oakland added a pair of fundamentally sound at-bats -- a groundout to the right side by left fielder Mark Canha and a sacrifice fly by second baseman Ben Zobrist -- to grab a 1-0 lead. Peacock surrendered a pair of singles in the second but largely settled down and maintained control through five innings.
Graveman experienced his share of drama, but by the time Peacock departed trailing 3-0 in the sixth, Graveman had proven elusive enough. He coaxed an inning-ending double play off the bat of Astros designated hitter Evan Gattis to close the first, stranded a pair of baserunners (both reach via walks) in the second, and worked around singles from Astros third baseman Luis Valbuena and catcher Jason Castro in the fourth.
When Graveman set the Astros down in order in the fifth, it marked his first such inning accomplishing that feat.
NOTES: With the Athletics facing a right-hander for the third consecutive game, Oakland manager Bob Melvin utilized the same lineup for a third successive game. The Athletics scored 15 runs in the previous two games with left-handers batting leadoff (CF Sam Fuld), fifth (1B Ike Davis), sixth (C Stephen Vogt) and eighth (RF Josh Reddick), and a switch-hitter (2B Ben Zobrist) in the three-hole. ... Astros RHP Josh Fields made his second injury rehab appearance on Monday night, tossing one scoreless inning for Triple-A Fresno. Fields was placed on the 15-day disabled list March 27 with a right groin strain. ... Seven-time NBA All-Star Tracy McGrady threw out the ceremonial first pitch on Tuesday night. McGrady spent parts of six seasons with the Houston Rockets and also enjoyed a brief stint pitching for the independent Sugar Land Skeeters.
Top Game Performances
Starting Pitchers
| Oakland |
|
Houston |
|
Kendall Graveman
|
Player |
Brad Peacock |
|
Win |
W/L |
Loss |
|
5.1 |
IP |
5.0 |
|
3 |
Strikeouts |
3 |
|
4 |
Hits |
5 |
|
0.00 |
ERA |
5.40 |
Team Stats Summary
| Team |
Hits |
HR |
TB |
Avg |
LOB |
K |
RBI |
BB |
SB |
Errors |
| Oakland
|
7 |
0 |
10 |
.226 |
14 |
7 |
4 |
2 |
1 |
0 |
| Houston
|
8 |
0 |
8 |
.242 |
19 |
7 |
0 |
4 |
0 |
0 |
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