Lucas Spence entered Thursday night without a major-league home run. He left Sutter Health Park with three of them—and the Astros still tied for first place in the AL West.
The 23-year-old rookie drove in five runs with three homers as Houston beat the Athletics 7-5 in the opener of its final series of the regular season. Spence became just the third player in MLB history to hit his first three career home runs in the same game, joining Seby Zavala in 2021 and Joshua Báez earlier this season.
Houston improved to 79-80 with three games remaining. Texas beat the Mets 3-1 earlier Thursday, leaving the Astros and Rangers tied atop the division. Houston holds the head-to-head tiebreaker, and both teams have been eliminated from Wild Card contention, making the AL West their only path to the postseason.
Spence Starts His Night With No. 1
Christian Walker and Cam Smith opened the second inning with consecutive singles before Spence drove a Mason Barnett changeup to right-center for a three-run homer, the first of his major-league career. The 429-foot shot gave Houston a 3-0 lead.
The lead disappeared an inning later. Peter Lambert allowed a leadoff walk to Jonah Heim and a two-out single to Shea Langeliers before Jeff McNeil hit a three-run homer to tie the game. Zack Gelof followed immediately with a solo homer, putting the Athletics ahead 4-3. Lambert was removed after a Donovan Walton single and finished with four earned runs on six hits and two walks over 2 2/3 innings. He struck out six.
Bryan King recorded the final out of the third and worked a scoreless fourth before Miguel Ullola took over in the fifth.
Paredes Ties It, Spence Does It Again
Isaac Paredes pulled Houston even in the sixth with his 24th home run of the season, a solo shot off Barnett.
Then Spence came up again in the seventh.
Facing Scott Blewett, Spence sent a 97.5 mph fastball to right-center for his second homer of the night and a 5-4 Astros lead. The rookie had gone 0-for-3 with a walk and two strikeouts Wednesday after being recalled from the taxi squad, then worked with Houston’s coaches before Thursday’s game on getting his timing back against fastballs.
Christian Walker gave Houston another run in the eighth with his 27th homer, but the Athletics answered in the bottom half. Gelof hit his second homer of the night off Bennett Sousa to cut the lead to 6-5. Sousa struck out Tommy White before allowing a single to Michael Stefanic, and Bryan Abreu entered with two outs. After walking Joshua Kuroda-Grauer, Abreu got Heim to line out to center to preserve the lead.
Spence Makes History
Spence wasn’t finished.
Leading off the ninth, he jumped on the first pitch from Elvis Alvarado and sent it over the right-field wall for his third homer of the game and a 7-5 Houston lead.
Spence finished 3-for-4 with three runs scored and five RBI. He became the 14th player in Astros history with a three-homer game and, at 23 years and 240 days old, the second youngest. Only Yordan Alvarez, who accomplished it at 22 in 2019, was younger.
Abreu returned for the ninth and closed it quickly. After Lawrence Butler singled with one out, Langeliers grounded into a Peña-Altuve-Walker double play to end the game. Abreu worked 1 1/3 scoreless innings for his ninth save.
Ullola Gives Astros Three Scoreless Innings
Spence supplied the offense, but Miguel Ullola gave Houston three critical innings after Lambert’s early exit.
Ullola allowed one hit and no runs over the fifth, sixth, and seventh, walking none and striking out three. He earned the win to improve to 2-0. The outing came just two days after he threw 33 pitches over two scoreless innings against Seattle.
Houston’s pitching staff combined for 14 strikeouts and three walks. The Athletics finished with 11 hits but went 1-for-8 with runners in scoring position.
AL West Remains Deadlocked
The win kept Houston’s season in its own hands, but Texas’ victory over the Mets ensured there was no separation in the standings. The Astros and Rangers are both 79-80 with three games remaining, with Houston holding the tiebreaker.
Houston continues its four-game series against the Athletics Friday at Sutter Health Park. Hunter Brown starts for the Astros against left-hander Jacob Lopez, with first pitch scheduled for 8:40 p.m. CT. Texas begins its final series Friday at Minnesota.
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