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Oakland A’s defeat Astros 3-2 in 13 innings, extend winning streak

By MJ Hurley

OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA - SEPTEMBER 20: Marcus Semien #10 of the Oakland Athletics takes a lead at third base during the game against the Texas Rangers at Ring Central Coliseum on September 20, 2019 in Oakland, California. (Photo by Daniel Shirey/Getty Images)
OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA - SEPTEMBER 20: Marcus Semien #10 of the Oakland Athletics takes a lead at third base during the game against the Texas Rangers at Ring Central Coliseum on September 20, 2019 in Oakland, California. (Photo by Daniel Shirey/Getty Images) /
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The Oakland A’s continued their winning ways on Friday, defeating the Houston Astros to extend their seven game winning streak.

In a season with wacky rules and odd games, the Oakland A’s had their most exciting game yet in a 3-2 win over the rival Houston Astros in 13 innings.

After much anticipation surrounding the Astros cheating scandal, the A’s extended their winning streak to seven games and gave themselves a 3 ½ game lead in the AL West.

For Oakland, Chris Bassitt put on another pitching clinic and solidified himself as one of the top pitchers on the staff and in the entire division.

The veteran righty gave the A’s seven innings of one run baseball that kept the Athletics in the game until a Robbie Grossman solo home run in the seventh inning.

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Once again, the A’s had to wait for the opposing starting pitcher to leave the game for their bats to warm up. Zack Greinke left after six scoreless innings which allowed Grossman to give Oakland their only run in regulation.

Joakim Soria and Liam Hendriks held down the tie game in the eight and ninth, but the offense was unable to produce any heroics just yet.

Reliever J.B. Wendelken gave the A’s three innings of relief and only allowed one run in spite of the new extra innings rules.

Following the RBI double by Alex Bregman in the top of the 13th inning, Dusty Baker did his best to play mind games with the streaky Oakland offense.

Instead of allowing Robbie Grossman to hit with two outs and a runner on third, Baker intentionally walked Grossman which brought rookie Austin Allen to the plate. Allen made Baker regret his decision and sent a single into left field which tied the game at 2-2.

Not wanting to extend the evening any further, Marcus Semien hit a walk-off single following a walk to Tony Kemp. The Semien single was the third walk-off for the A’s this season and came during an at-bat which was the fourth time the A’s had the bases loaded in the game.

Oakland continues to dominate with high level pitching. Even though their bullpen has been used extensively and has had few days off due to the 60 game season, the pitching staff continues to keep the A’s in games until the “Late Inning A’s” make their appearance to save the day.

Looking to move past the sign stealing scandal and focus on the game, the Athletics go into Saturday with the ability to extend their first place lead to 4 ½ games in the AL West.

Next. Luzardo and the start of something special. dark

Frankie Montas and Jesus Luzardo will take the mound for the Oakland A’s in their next two games against Houston. With both starters posting a sub 2.50 ERA, the remainder of the three game series bodes well for Oakland.