Mini Series Preview: A's and Astros

The Athletics will begin their road trip with a quick two-game set against the Houston Astros, who are currently sitting 1.5 games behind the AL West-leading Seattle Mariners. Over the weekend, they took three-of-four from the Mariners, pushing their overall record on the season to 28-25.

The A's have been struggling of late, snapping an 11-game losing streak on Sunday against the Philadelphia Phillies. After wrapping up a stretch where they faced the Mariners, Yankees, Dodgers, and Giants, they then played the two hottest teams in baseball in the Los Angeles Angels and the Phillies.

For the most part, the A's were in a large number of those losses during the streak, even against the tougher opponents. Their record sits at 23-31 and they're 7.5 games back in the AL West, but this is still a dangerous team. After so many consecutive losses, they may be primed to go on a bit of a run.

Probable starters

Tuesday night will feature JP Sears (4-4, 4.00 ERA, 42 SO) and Hunter Brown (6-3, 2.04 ERA, 71 SO). Brown has been one of the better pitchers in the league, picking up where he left off in 2024, and is giving Astros fans a lot to look forward to this season and in the future.

Brown has been fantastic in gettiing opponents to swing and miss, amassing 71 strikeouts this season. According to Fangraphs, 26.2% of the balls put in play off Brown qualify as soft contact.

After a disappointing display of offense at home, the A's will have to find a way around this, getting on base and hitting with runners in scoring position. The good news is the A's are one of the best in the league in average for away games (6th) batting .244 and with RISP 8th overall batting .243.

Sunday's finale was also started by Jesús Luzardo, who came into the matchup with a 1.95 ERA on the season, before the A's hung a three-spot on him in the first inning and won the game against the bullpen.

In the finale, Luis Severino will toe the rubber against Lance McCullers Jr. McCullers is one of the longest tenured Astros, with him and Jose Altuve being the two remaining players from the 2017 championship run. Recently against the Mariners, he showed his best stuff of the season, striking out eight in 4.1 innings of work.

Severino has been a Cy Young caliber pitcher in four starts away from Sutter Health Park in Sacramento, posting a 1-0 record with a 0.72 ERA and a 0.96 WHIP.

The bats

Jose Altuve has emerged from a 3-for-20 slump and had a multi-HR game, looking a lot better at the plate the last week. His struggles have been groundouts, so for Sears it will be key to prevent fly balls as much as possible.

The Astros were celebrating in their own park just as the A's were on Sunday after breaking their 11-game losing streak. Christian Walker hit the game-winner, a two-run home run off Mariners reliever Casey Legumina in the bottom of the ninth inning to complete the series win.

The A's hope their momentum and energy shift from Sunday's win will carry over to Texas, where they can start fresh and leave the remnants of the past two weeks behind them. They have a lot of confidence in the team they have right now, who are equipped to do whatever it takes to win.

One player to watch out for is new third baseman Isaac Paredes, who has seven home run this month and is batting .306 with a .398 OBP in May. A big reason they acquired him is because of the short porch in left field with the Crawford Boxes. Despite Paredes being a right-hander, he's struggled against lefties this season, going 2-for-20 with a single homer. Against righties, he's hitting .295 with 10 homers in 176 at-bats.

Injury Updates

The Astros are without Yordan Alvarez, who has been on the injured list since the beginning of May with right hand inflammation. Even without their big slugger, the Astros rank No.5 in wRC+ in the month of May. They've played a 17-game stretch without a day, so the off-day Monday is a much-needed relief for both clubs.

The A's are keeping an eye on Nick Kurtz, who is currently day-to-day with a left hip flexor. The team gave him the day off on Sunday, followed by the off-day on Monday to see where he's at before making a decision on his status moving forward.

In his absence, newcomer Logan Davidson played first base on Sunday, collecting his first MLB hit after being selected in the first round of the 2019 MLB Draft. Tyler Soderstrom is also an option at first, but he has been playing left field since Kurtz's arrival in April and has graded out well defensively on the grass.

Gio Urshela is currently on the IL with a left hamstring strain, though he said it's feeling a lot better. Zack Gelof has also yet to play this season, initially missing time after suffering a hamate injury, before having a setback on his rehab assignment with a stress reaction in his ribs.

The first pitch for the short series in Houston is set for Tuesday night at 5:10 PDT at Daikin Park.