A four-game sweep of one of the best teams in baseball seemed unlikely.
On the hill for the Astros: Zack Greinke, acquired as the final trade deadline seconds ticked off to add deception and finesse to a powerful and devastating Houston rotation. In the visitor’s dugout yet again: a great team with more talent than just ability to pump the breaks on a five-game skid.
Greinke stifled the A’s with a high-80s fastball that was nearly interchangeable with a mid-80s changeup and fall-off-the-table curveball, but Alex Bregman was the one-man wrecking crew the Astros needed. Anderson served up a juicy 0-2 slider he wanted back-foot and in the dirt that Bregman deposited in the left-field seats for a three-run home run.