Stop me if you’ve heard this story before. The A’s get a superb outing from a starter, score late-inning runs to take the lead, only to have a member of the bullpen come in and give it all away.
Thus was the case of Sunday’s game, when starter Chris Bassitt was outstanding against the Houston Astros through 6.2 innings, allowing only three hits and one run while striking out 10. After his departure, the A’s rallied in the eighth inning for two runs to take a 3-1 lead on a walk to Josh Phegley, a single by Marcus Semien and an RBI base hit by Billy Burns, all before Josh Reddick slapped a double into the outfield to score Semien for a two-run lead.