A's break tie in 9th inning to beat Astros 4-3

HOUSTON - One night after misplaying a fly ball that led to a six-run inning by the Astros, Nick Martini quickly got over his miscue and came up with another big hit against Houston.

Martini hit a tiebreaking double in the ninth inning and the Oakland Athletics defeated Houston 4-3 Tuesday night, snapping the Astros' six-game winning streak.

The A's moved within 1½ games of the AL West-leading Astros.

“That's a great team win,” Edwin Jackson said. “It's a big win for us. It's no secret we needed to come out today and get a win after (Monday's) game.”

Ramon Laureano drew a one-out walk from Roberto Osuna (1-2), Jonathan Lucroy singled and Martini followed with his double.

“My mindset was hopefully he tried to get ahead with something early,” Martini said. “I didn't want to fall behind. I was fortunate he put one in the zone, and I put a good swing on it.”

Osuna said he was trying to go up and in but he missed down the middle. He was most disappointed in the walk to Laureano.

“That never happened in the past, to walk a guy with four straight balls like that,” Osuna said.

Martini misplayed a fly ball by Josh Reddick and then overthrew second in the eighth inning of Monday's 11-4 win by the Astros.

“Like I said yesterday, just get over it pretty quick,” Martini said. “You know what happened. I can't change it. I wish I would have made that play, but I think that will happen a lot less than it will actually happen. I forgot about it today and came to the park and just tried to have a good approach.”

Martini also hit a tying RBI double in the ninth against Houston on Aug. 17.

“He's come up with some big hits for us,” Oakland manager Bob Melvin said. “And beat the shift - he did it last time here, too. Hit a ball to center field like that. He's got a pretty good idea at times when he needs to start his bat a little bit earlier.”

Jeurys Familia (8-4) pitched a scoreless eighth. Blake Treinen worked a perfect ninth for his 33rd save. Oakland's bullpen threw 4? scoreless innings.

“Their back end is as good as anybody's,” Houston manager AJ Hinch said. “They get the lead, they come in and they're tough to hit, which is one way they win. They don't win if they don't score. Three of their four runs were either walk or hit by pitch, so they took advantage of their opportunities.”

Alex Bregman's two-out, two-run double in the Houston fifth off Jackson made it 3-all.

Matt Olson hit a three-run homer that gave Oakland a 3-1 lead in the third. Charlie Morton walked Jed Lowrie and hit Khris Davis with two outs before Olson's 24th home run of the season.

Houston took a 1-0 lead in the second on a groundout by Tyler White, scoring Carlos Correa.

Morton allowed three runs on three hits with four walks and three strikeouts in 4? innings.

Jackson gave up two earned runs and four hits with four strikeouts in 4? innings.

SPRING IN HIS STEP

Astros CF George Springer made two diving catches in the first three innings. He sprinted in on Davis' shallow pop fly, diving forward to make the catch and end the first. In the third, Springer rushed to his right, diving into the left-center gap to rob Martini of extra bases.