MLB wild card roundup: Astros walk past A’s

A day after a dramatic comeback victory, the Oakland Athletics had quite the letdown.

Ryan Cook walked three of his four batters, helping the Houston Astros score two runs in the ninth without a hit on their way to a 4-3 victory Sunday in Oakland, California.

“Regardless, we have to find a way to create our own momentum,” A’s manager Bob Melvin said. “It’s all about winning games.”

Jose Veras (4-0) pitched 12/3 scoreless innings as the Astros (63-80) took the rubber game of the weekend series. The victory means Houston’s streak of 100-loss seasons ends at three.

Nate Freiman hit a two-run homer in the seventh to give the A’s a 3-2 lead. Oakland went on to load the bases but Veras wiggled out of the jam.

Cook (1-3) came on to pitch the ninth and lost the strike zone. Fernando Abad then came in and gave up a sacrifice fly to Jake Marisnick.

Jose Altuve, who went 1 for 4 to extend his hitting streak to 14 games, was walked intentionally. Abad then walked Dexter Fowler on a full count to force in the winning run.

“I struggled as much as I could to make pitches. I just couldn’t do it,” said Cook, who got the nod because Eric O’Flaherty was unavailable due to a back issue. “There’s no excuse. I have to be able to make pitches and I couldn’t do it. It’s as simple as that.”

The Athletics won 4-3 on Saturday when they scored three runs in the ninth inning. Jed Lowrie had a game-ending RBI single.

Oakland has lost eight of its last 10 and has not won two in a row since Aug. 22-23. This was the A’s fifth straight game decided by one run.

Tigers 6, Giants 1

Detroit rookie Kyle Lobstein earned his first major league win, and Miguel Cabrera homered for the third time in two days in the Tigers’ victory over the visiting San Francisco Giants.

The Tigers beat the Giants for just the second time in 10 games, including San Francisco’s sweep of Detroit in the 2012 World Series. Torii Hunter, getting a rare chance to face a starting pitcher older than he is, had three hits against Tim Hudson (9-10).

Lobstein (1-0) has a 2.11 ERA in three starts since moving into the rotation to replace Anibal Sanchez. He allowed one run in 52/3 innings, giving up four hits and two walks and striking out three. Four relievers finished, with Phil Coke – who took the loss in Game 4 in the 2012 Series – pitching the ninth.

Hudson gave up three runs and eight hits in six innings. Hudson and LaTroy Hawkins are the only two active pitchers with a victory at Tiger Stadium, which closed in 1999.

The Tigers took the lead on Hunter’s RBI single in the third, and Cabrera followed with a long homer over the Giants bullpen in left-center field.

The Giants finally got to Lobstein when Angel Pagan’s infield single scored Gregor Blanco with two outs in the fifth.

Ian Kinsler’s RBI double off George Kontos made it 4-1 in the seventh, and Cabrera drove in Kinsler with two outs to give him 11 straight seasons with 100 RBIs. Victor Martinez put the game away with a double into the right-center field gap that was hit hard enough for the hobbled Cabrera to score from first.