HOUSTON -- Had the roof been open Wednesday afternoon at Minute Maid Park, there would have been no accurate estimate of how far Evan Gattis' no-doubt homer in the sixth inning would have traveled. The official count was 414 feet, though it all but went out of sight when the ball rocketed off his bat.
Those are the kinds of majestic blasts the Astros hope to see more of out of Gattis, the bare-knuckled designated hitter who changed the complexion of the 6-1 win over the A's by breaking a tie with his two-run homer off A's starter Jesse Hahn.