The Oakland A's bats were held in check Sunday in a 4-1 loss to the Houston Astros, ending their four-game win streak and foiling a chance to gain more ground on their AL West rival.
Zack Greinke threw seven smooth innings for his 200th win, pitching the first-place Astros to the victory.
Alex Bregman had a go-ahead, three-run homer among his four hits to back Greinke, who won his third straight start since joining the Astros from the Arizona Diamondbacks at the July 31 trade deadline.
Greinke (13-4) went nine up, nine down on 25 pitches to start the game before allowing Marcus Semien's 21st homer - two days after Semien doubled to break up a perfect game bid by Justin Verlander.
Greinke allowed four hits and one run with three walks and six strikeouts. He became the 115th pitcher in major league history to reach 200 career wins, and the second in Houston's rotation along with Verlander.
Yuli Gurriel added an RBI double in the sixth for undermanned Houston, which had a two-man bench but snapped Oakland's four-game winning streak. The Astros went back ahead of the A's in the AL West race by 7 1/2 games.
Athletics lefty Brett Anderson (10-9) exited in the sixth with an injury. There weren't any updates on his condition before the game ended.
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He allowed four runs on seven hits in five innings, struck out three and walked four in losing his second straight start and fourth in five.
Oakland saw its home winning streak end at six games, matching the club's season high. One more win will clinch a winning record at the Coliseum for a third consecutive season.
Fill-in right fielder Chad Pinder threw out Jose Altuve at home plate in the first after he reached on a two-base throwing error by Anderson.
Bregman singled in the first and ninth, doubled in the fourth and drew an 11-pitch walk in the seventh from Jake Diekman.
Roberto Osuna finished for his 27th save.
