For Astros followers in the Brazos Valley, Thursday night’s 7-5 win over the Athletics was less a smooth Houston performance than a repeated escape. Lucas Spence supplied all three exits, hitting home runs in the second, seventh and ninth innings and driving in five of Houston’s seven runs at Sutter Health Park.
That individual performance mattered because the Astros had little margin for error. Starter Peter Lambert allowed four earned runs before completing the third inning, and the Athletics kept answering Houston’s attempts to get comfortable. Spence first put Houston ahead, later broke a tie and finally restored a two-run lead after Gelof’s second homer.
The first one built a lead
Spence’s opening homer came in the second inning with Christian Walker and Cam Smith on base. Houston had put together consecutive singles, and Spence turned that modest opportunity into a 3-0 advantage with one drive to right-center.
It was an efficient kind of offensive blow: three runs on one swing, with no need for a long rally or a parade of hits. Walker and Smith created the opportunity, but Spence converted it completely. For a Houston lineup that finished with 10 hits, the early home run provided the first proof that its power could compensate for some unevenness elsewhere.
The lead lasted into the third, when the Athletics finally broke through against Lambert. Jeff McNeil’s three-run homer followed Jonah Heim’s walk and Shea Langeliers’ single, and Zack Gelof added a solo shot later in the inning. In a few batters, Houston had gone from leading 3-0 to trailing 4-3.
Lambert’s six strikeouts show that he was not simply overmatched, but the larger fact is harder to soften: he lasted 2.2 innings, surrendered six hits and issued two walks. The Astros needed someone to stop the game from becoming a power contest they could not control.
The middle gave Spence another chance
Houston found that stability in relief. Bryan King recorded the final out of the third and worked through the fourth without allowing a run. Miguel Ullola then covered the fifth, sixth and seventh, surrendering one hit while striking out three and keeping the Athletics scoreless.
That work was easy to overlook beside the home runs, but it was the bridge that allowed Houston to keep swinging from level ground. The Athletics had already shown that a single mistake could leave the yard. King and Ullola prevented the deficit from expanding while the Astros waited for another opening.
Isaac Paredes created the first one in the sixth. His leadoff solo homer against Mason Barnett tied the game at 4-4. That was an important correction to the third inning, though hardly a secure position; the Athletics had already produced two home runs, and its lineup still had plenty of dangerous at-bats ahead.
Spence changed the game again in the seventh. After Cam Smith flew out to begin the inning, Spence sent a drive to right-center against Scott Blewett. This one put Houston ahead 5-4. It restored the Astros’ lead after the game had remained tied through the sixth, turning a level contest into another Houston advantage.
The timing gives the second homer more weight than its distance or aesthetics. Houston did not need another three-run blast. It needed one run to break the tie, and Spence delivered it before the inning could become complicated.
