Houston Astros vs Oakland Athletics Box Score on Sep 08, 2020

Yuli Gurriel's sacrifice fly broke a seventh-inning tie Tuesday night and allowed the visiting Houston Astros to salvage a split of their doubleheader against the Oakland Athletics with a 5-4 victory.

The win ended a six-game losing streak for the Astros (22-21), who temporarily fell back to .500 following a 4-2 defeat in the first game of the doubleheader.

Khris Davis' first homer in over a month powered Oakland (25-15) to the opening win.

The top two teams in the American League West have two games remaining -- one each on Wednesday and Thursday, also in Oakland -- in this five-game, four-day series that will complete the season series. The Astros' win in Tuesday's nightcap was the first by the team playing in the opposition's ballpark in the first eight games of the series, which the A's lead 5-3.

Having used a four-run fourth inning to erase a four-run deficit, the Astros pushed across the decisive run after an error by A's shortstop Vimael Machin opened the door in the seventh.

After failing to bunt, Myles Straw advanced George Springer to second with an infield single, after which Michael Brantley walked to load the bases and set the stage for Gurriel.

Enoli Paredes (2-2) was credited with the win after getting the final two outs of the sixth inning. Closer Ryan Pressly notched his eighth save despite allowing a one-out single to Ramon Laureano in the seventh.

J.B. Wendelken (1-1), who worked the sixth and seventh innings and allowed just the one unearned run, took the loss for Oakland.

The tight finish was the result of the Astros' four-run fourth against A's starter Mike Minor and reliever Yusmeiro Petit.

Minor was done after hitting Carlos Correa with a pitch with the bases loaded, forcing in the inning's first run. Houston scored its other three runs on bases-loaded walks by Petit to Abraham Toro and Dustin Garneau, and an RBI infield single by Springer, all with two outs.

Making his first start for Oakland, Minor was charged with all four runs. He allowed three hits in 3 1/3 innings, with two walks and four strikeouts.

Oakland's four runs came an inning earlier against Astros starter Chase De Jong, who was making his first start for the Astros.

Matt Olson provided the big blow with a three-run homer, his 11th of the season and 100th of his career, after Tony Kemp had opened the game's scoring with a sacrifice fly.

De Jong was pulled after completing 3 2/3 innings, having allowed four runs and five hits. He walked one and struck out three.

Straw and Brantley had two hits apiece for the Astros, who had lost the first two games of the showdown series.

Machin went 3-for-3 and Laureano added two hits for the A's.

--Field Level Media