Lucas Spence gave the Astros the kind of night that can change the shape of a September race. The 23-year-old rookie outfielder hit three home runs, drove in five and supplied the go-ahead blast in the seventh inning as Houston beat the A’s, 7-5, on Thursday at Sutter Health Park.
The victory left Houston at 79-80 and tied with Texas atop the American League West. The Rangers won earlier in the day against the Mets, but the Astros hold the tiebreaker and still control their route to the division with three regular-season games left. Houston will finish with three more games against the A’s, while Texas opens a three-game set at Minnesota on Friday.
A rookie’s record-setting night
Spence entered the game with no Major League homers. By the ninth inning, he had three.
His first came in the second, when he drove a three-run shot off Oakland starter Mason Barnett to put Houston ahead 3-0. The A’s erased that lead in the third against Peter Lambert, but Spence returned to the middle of the order’s work when his solo drive in the seventh broke a 4-4 tie.
Christian Walker added Houston’s fourth homer in the eighth, extending the margin to 6-4. That extra run mattered immediately: Zack Gelof answered with his second solo homer of the night, this one against Bennett Sousa, to pull Oakland within a run.
Spence made sure the Astros would have breathing room. Leading off the ninth, he jumped on the first pitch and sent it out to right field for his third homer and a 7-5 lead.
He became the third player in Major League history to hit each of his first three career home runs in one game. Joshua Báez did it for the Cardinals in his Major League debut on Aug. 15, and Seby Zavala accomplished the feat for the White Sox on July 31, 2021.
| Player | Home runs | RBIs |
|---|---|---|
| Lucas Spence, Astros | 3 | 5 |
| Zack Gelof, A’s | 2 | 2 |
Houston finds a way after another short start
Spence’s early homer was Houston’s only hit against Barnett until the sixth. Isaac Paredes finally brought the Astros even then, lifting a homer to left for his 24th of the season. Paredes is second on the club with 93 RBIs.
Lambert could not protect the initial three-run advantage. Jeff McNeil launched a three-run homer in the third, and Gelof followed with a solo shot, putting the A’s ahead 4-3. Lambert was finished after 2 2/3 innings, extending an unwelcome Astros trend: Houston starters have now failed to complete the third inning in three straight games.
That put added strain on a bullpen already carrying a heavy late-season load. Rookie Miguel Ullola provided the necessary relief, working three scoreless innings on 35 pitches. He had thrown 33 pitches over two innings on Tuesday, making his Thursday contribution especially valuable.
Spence arrives when Houston needs him
Spence was recalled from Triple-A Sugar Land on Wednesday after Daulton Varsho suffered a wrist injury. It is his second Major League stint this season, and it came with Houston staring at a final weekend in which every swing could matter.
The Astros’ No. 12 prospect had opened the year at Double-A Corpus Christi before moving to Sugar Land, where he finished with 12 combined homers between the two stops. An undrafted free agent from Southern Illinois-Edwardsville in 2024, Spence now owns a piece of Major League history—and Houston has one more reason to believe its season can last beyond Sunday.
