HOUSTON — Zack Gelof homered early, Max Schuemann and Nick Allen drove in runs with 12th-inning bunts, and the Oakland Athletics beat the Houston Astros 4-3 on Tuesday night.
With the score 2-2, Daz Cameron’s bunt single to start the 12th sent Gelof, the automatic runner, to third.
Schuemann then bunted to Héctor Neris (9-5), who spiked his throw home as Gelof scored on the sacrifice. Cameron moved to third on the error as the ball rolled in the field.
With runners at the corners, Allen bunted into a forceout that scored Cameron for a 4-2 lead.
“That was well-executed,” A’s manager Mark Kotsay said. “Obviously Daz was bunting for a hit… We had a couple of guys up there that can bunt and they do a good job with it with Schuman and Allen. We took our chances there getting a run.”
Houston manager Joe Espada was disappointed in his team’s defense in the 12th.
“We just didn’t do a good job of handling the ball there in that inning,” Espada said.
Jose Altuve hit an RBI double leading off the bottom half off Hogan Harris (4-3), who retired the next three batters. Houston went 2 for 17 with runners in scoring position.
“We battled to the end,” Espada said. “We had the right guys at the plate when we wanted to and we just couldn’t — it was just one of those games.”
Bryan Abreu struck out the side in the 11th for Houston.
Houston had a runner on third with two outs in the 10th when Jeremy Peña hit a fly ball to right field. But Cameron made a diving catch to rob him of a hit and end the inning.
“Right away I thought to myself (go) in, and I made a sick catch,” Cameron said. “The ball was tailing away and I dove at it and caught it. It was good knowing it kept us in the game to win it.”
Jacob Wilson’s sacrifice bunt sent the automatic runner to third to start the 10th before Abreu struck out the next two batters.
Altuve singled off Scott Alexander with two outs in the ninth before Yordan Alvarez sent him to third on a groundball single that rolled just past diving second baseman Gelof. But Alexander struck out Tucker to send it to extra innings.
The Astros had a runner on first trailing with one out in the seventh when pinch-hitter Jon Singleton hit his first career triple off the wall in left-center to cut the lead to 2-1. Pinch-runner Jason Heyward took over for him and scored when Altuve hit a bloop single to shallow center field to tie it.
Oakland starter JP Sears allowed four hits and walked two in six scoreless innings.
Houston’s Spencer Arrighetti tied a season high by allowing seven hits with two runs in 6 2/3 innings. It was his first start since he permitted nine runs — three earned — while getting just two outs in a 12-5 loss to the Reds.
Brent Rooker hit a one-out single in the first and moved to third on a single by J.J. Bleday. The Athletics took the lead when Rooker scored on a sacrifice fly by Shea Langeliers.
Oakland extended the lead to 2-0 when Gelof sent the first pitch of the second inning to the train tracks atop left field for his 17th homer this season.
Bleday hit his 39th double of the season in the third inning, set a new Oakland A’s single-season record for a centerfielder. The former record was held by the late Dave Henderson, who had 38 doubles in 1988.
Athletics: RHP Osvaldo Bido, who was scheduled to start Tuesday’s game, was instead placed on the 15-day injured list, retroactive to Sunday, with right wrist flexor tendonitis. … LHP Brady Basso and 1B/OF Ryan Noda were recalled from Triple-A Las Vegas and INF Tristan Gray was optioned to Las Vegas. … OF Miguel Andujar had core muscle surgery Tuesday with Dr. William Meyers at the Vincera Institute in Philadelphia. He will return to Oakland to begin rehabilitation.
Astros: OF Chas McCormick left in the middle of the fifth with right wrist discomfort.
Houston RHP Hunter Brown (11-7, 3.41 ERA) opposes RHP Joey Estes (6-7, 4.46) when the series continues Wednesday night.
