HOUSTON — Matt Olson and Sean Murphy both homered twice, and the Oakland Athletics tagged Wade Miley for seven runs in the first inning and scored a season high in a 21-7 rout of the Houston Astros on Tuesday night.
After being blanked in a lopsided loss on Monday, Oakland recovered to win its seventh of nine and remained ahead of Cleveland for the second AL wild-card spot.
The Astros were coming off a 21-1 win over Seattle on Sunday and a 15-0 thrashing of Oakland on Monday in which they hit seven homers. It was the first time the Athletics had been shut out since May 9.
But on Tuesday, the A’s had a season-best 25 hits and built a 7-0 lead in the first inning without an extra-base knock. They still ended up tying a season high with six homers after not hitting any in their previous two games.
The 25 hits by Oakland is their most in a nine-inning game since also having 25 on June 14, 1969 against the Boston Red Sox — a game that coincidentally also featured a 21-7 final score, according to ESPN’s Stats & Information
The Associated Press contributed to this report.