Hogan Harris and 3 Athletics relievers combine to blank Astros 4-0

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OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — Hogan Harris and three relievers combined on an eight-hit shutout, and the Oakland Athletics beat the Houston Astros 4-0 on Monday night.

Harris (2-3) allowed seven hits in 6 2/3 innings and matched his career high of seven strikeouts. The win was his first since June 18, and it came after he spent the All-Star break working on slowing down his delivery.

“Just kind of resetting and making it simpler,” Harris said. “Even though there’s people on the bases, I felt a lot more confident being able to repeat it, still being able to make pitches when I wanted to. That helped a lot.”

Harris has been stingy all season, especially during night games. The left-hander has allowed three runs or fewer in all nine of his starts this season and has a 1.55 ERA in evening games.

“I thought Hogan took a step in the right direction tonight,” A’s manager Mark Kotsay said. “It was a great night. He got the double plays when he needed, he made pitches when he needed. He pitched tonight. When he got in trouble tonight he didn’t panic, he didn’t try to make a better pitch. He just made pitches.”

The game took 2 hours, 7 minutes, and was played in front of an announced crowd of 4,517.

JJ Bleday had three hits while Lawrence Butler and Max Schuemann added two apiece to pace the A’s to their second win in eight games against the Astros.

Houston leads the AL West by percentage points over Seattle.

“Harris threw the ball really well, and we know that once they have the lead, they have a couple guys in the back end that can do the job,” Astros manager Joe Espada said. “And that’s what they did. Sometimes you just tip your hat to the other side.”

Austin Adams followed Harris and retired Alex Bregman on a swinging strikeout, ending a two-on, two-out threat in the seventh.

Lucas Erceg retired three batters and Mason Miller pitched a 1-2-3 ninth to finish the game.

Oakland has the fifth-most errors (61) in the majors but turned three double plays to match St. Louis for the most in baseball (103).

Astros slugger Yordan Alvarez doubled in four plate appearances after hitting for the cycle against Seattle on Sunday. Jose Altuve and Jeremy Pena each had two hits for Houston.

The A’s got their sputtering offense going early, stringing together four consecutive one-out hits off Astros starter Spencer Arrighetti in the third.

Miguel Andujar doubled in a run with a drive down the left-field line, and a second run scored when Astros left fielder Mauricio Dubón fumbled the ball trying to retrieve it. Bleday followed with an RBI double to put the A’s ahead 3-0.

Schuemann singled home Zack Gelof in the fourth to make it 4-0.

Arrighetti (4-8) allowed seven hits and four runs in six innings.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Astros: Former All-Star INF Aledmys Díaz was called up from the Florida Complex League and added to the roster. Díaz, who began the season with Oakland before his release on July 5, played first base and went 0 for 3. … C Victor Caratini (hip) was activated off the 10-day injured list. INF Greg Kessinger and C César Salazar were optioned to Triple-A Sugar Land. INF David Hensley was designated for assignment.

UP NEXT

Astros rookie RHP Jake Bloss (0-0, 4.70 ERA) faces Oakland in his third career start Tuesday. The A’s plan to go with RHP Osvaldo Bido (1-1, 3.44), who will be making his second start of the season after a stellar stint in the bullpen.

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