Kyle McCann slugged a go-ahead two-run home run in the top of the sixth inning to support Joey Estes, who pitched effectively into the seventh inning as the visiting Oakland Athletics claimed a 5-4 win over the Houston Astros on Wednesday.
McCann struck a surprising blow against Astros right-hander Hunter Brown (11-8), who had dominated the Athletics during his brief career and overwhelmed McCann over five at-bats.
McCann was 0-for-5 with five strikeouts in his career against Brown, including strikeouts in the top of the second and fourth innings — the first swinging and the second a called third strike.
But after Brown escaped a bases-loaded jam with a pair of strikeouts in the fifth, McCann followed a leadoff single by Jacob Wilson with a shot to left field for his fifth homer. McCann golfed a 1-1 fastball the opposite way for a 352-foot shot that would have been a homer in only one other stadium besides Minute Maid Park: Fenway Park in Boston. McCann gave Oakland a 4-3 lead with his shot off Brown, who was 3-0 with a 1.80 ERA in five starts against the Athletics.
Brown allowed five runs on nine hits and one walk with seven strikeouts over five innings.
The Athletics (64-82) scratched across two runs in the third to erase a 2-0 deficit, with Brent Rooker and JJ Bleday driving home Max Schuemann and Ryan Noda, respectively. Rooker reached 100 RBIs on the season with his run-scoring single.
The Athletics’ three-run sixth featured McCann’s homer and another RBI single from Rooker, who plated Schuemann with his hit off Caleb Ferguson.
Brown surrendered a combined five earned runs in five starts last month and twirled six shutout innings against the Cincinnati Reds last week. He last worked as few as five innings on May 17.
Estes (7-7) allowed three runs (two earned) on seven hits and one walk with two strikeouts over 6 2/3 innings. He surrendered a sacrifice fly to Jake Meyers that scored Alex Bregman in the second before Mauricio Dubon added an RBI single that plated Jeremy Pena for a 2-0 lead.
The Astros (77-68) added an unearned run in the third and Kyle Tucker delivered a pinch-RBI single in the eighth off Tyler Ferguson that drove home Bregman. But Ferguson held the line there, and Oakland closer Mason Miller worked a perfect ninth inning for his 24th save.
Houston nine-time All-Star second baseman Jose Altuve left in the bottom of the fifth inning with side discomfort. The leadoff batter was 0-for-3 with a strikeout in his last at-bat, during which he appeared to injure himself.
