Athletics stage 7-run rally to sting Astros in rubber match

Max Muncy slugged a tie-breaking home run with two outs in the top of the seventh inning and the visiting Athletics rallied from a six-run deficit to claim the rubber match of a three-game series with the Houston Astros 7-6 on Sunday.

Muncy crushed a 2-1 fastball from Astros reliever Steven Okert (6-2) 409 feet to center field, his seventh home run, snapping a 6-6 deadlock. That was the deciding blow against the Astros, who dropped into a tie atop the American League West with the Texas Rangers, who beat the Los Angeles Angels 5-3.

The Athletics trailed 6-0 entering the top of the fifth before fashioning the comeback, first against Astros starter Cristian Javier before continuing it against reliever Enyel De Los Santos.

Javier breezed through his first four innings, allowing two hits and one walk with a season-high eight strikeouts. But he came undone with haste in the fifth, surrendering a leadoff single to Donovan Walton before walking Darell Hernaiz to set the table for nine-hole hitter Brian Serven.

Serven delivered his fourth home run, a three-run shot that carried 402 feet to left-center and sliced the deficit in half. De Los Santos replaced Javier but the fuse was lit for the Athletics.

Henry Bolte greeted De Los Santos with a single to center and, three batters later, Lawrence Butler produced an RBI double to left that plated Bolte and pushed Zack Gelof, who was hit by a pitch with one out, to third.

Tommy White followed with a two-run, opposite-field single to right that scored Gelof and Butler and knotted the score at 6-6.

Jose Altuve capped a three-run first inning with a two-run home run off Athletics opener Brady Basso. Altuve then added a bases-loaded walk in the second against Athletics right-hander Jack Perkins (3-9), extending the lead to 4-0.

Isaac Paredes hit a two-run homer on an 0-2 pitch in the fourth, his 17th home run pushing the lead to 6-0. His sacrifice fly in the first started the scoring.

Perkins allowed three runs (one earned) on three hits and five walks with six strikeouts in five innings. Hogan Harris notched his 13th save with a perfect ninth.

The Astros went 3-6 on a nine-game homestand against three division foes with losing records.

--Field Level Media