Kyle Tucker launches 3 homers as Astros knock off A’s again
Kyle Tucker became the sixth major-league player this season to homer three times in a game, driving in four runs in the process and powering up the guest Houston Astros won 6-4 over Oakland Athletics on Friday night
Jeremy Pena, Tucker and Alex Bregman Astros‘ 2-3-4 hitter, combined to score all six runs and drive in all six. He had seven of the team’s nine hits, including four homers.
Astros Never came back to beat the A’s for the eighth time in a row this season. They took the lead early on when Tucker belted the sixth pitch of the game from JP Sears over the fence in right-center field.
Bregman hit his 15th homer of the season in the third and scored Peña, who singled, before another Peña single and another Tucker homer in the fifth made the game 5–1.
The A’s propelled Frambar Valdez (8-6) to his eighth win, allowing four runs in five innings against him. The right-hander allowed six hits and two walks, striking out four.
The A’s came closer in the fifth inning after Jordan Diaz’s single drove in Oakland’s first run in the third inning. Consecutive singles by Nick Allen, Tony Kemp, and Zack Gelof set up a bases-loaded walk for Diaz, going 5–2 with no outs and a potential tying run on base.
Valdez gave up third on a sacrifice fly by Aledmis Diaz and fourth on an RBI grounder by JJ Blede, but got another grounder to end the inning with a 5–4 lead.
Tucker’s third homer completed the scoring in the seventh and gave him 17 points for the season. He had never hit more than two home runs in a game, while he did it twice.
The list of five others with three homers in a game this season also includes A’s Jordan Diaz, who accomplished the feat against the New York Yankees. The other four were Tracy Thompson of the Dodgers, Adolis Garcia of the Rangers, Paul Goldschmidt of the Cardinals and Jose Ramirez of the Guardians.
Phil Matton, Rafael Monteiro, Hector Norris and Ryan Pressley pitched shutout innings to preserve the win for Valdez. Pressley made his 23rd save.
Sears (1-7) took the loss, allowing five runs on eight hits over 5 2/3 innings. He walked one and got one out.
Tucker went 3-for-4 while Peña had two hits and scored twice. Bregman finished with two hits and two RBIs and one run.
Jordan Diaz had two RBI while Kemp collected a single, a double and two runs for the A’s, who have lost the first two meetings of the four-game series.
–Field Level Media
