OAKLAND — The A’s can right a lot of wrongs with one swing of their bat.
Twice they tied the game with homers Friday night against the Astros, then Jed Lowrie singled home the game winner in the ninth inning for a crowd-pleasing 9-8 walk-off victory over the American League’s winningest team.
The A’s trailed 7-3 when Marcus Semien tied it with a grand slam in the seventh. It was 8-7 when No. 9 hitter Boog Powell went deep to lead off the ninth to knot the score again. Semien followed with a single, Matt Joyce walked and Lowrie lined a single into left-center off Astros closer Ken Giles. Semien broke aggressively from second, though it appeared the ball might be caught, and that jump allowed him to score the winning run easily.
As teammates streamed out of the dugout to greet him between first and second, Lowrie — the ex-Astro — thrust his helmet over his head behind him in celebration.
In a disappointing overall season, the A’s certainly have shown a knack for late-inning comebacks, and Friday’s win was their 10th walk-off victory of 2017. Until those heroics, it was shaping up as Josh Reddick’s night. The one-time A’s fan favorite hit a two-run homer, then doubled home the go-ahead run in the top of the ninth off Blake Treinen.
The Astros had been 6-0 at the Coliseum before Friday, and the loss snapped their overall seven-game winning streak.
