Wesneski's Seven Innings Spare Astros Bullpen Ahead of AL West Finale

Hayden Wesneski held the Athletics to two runs across seven innings Saturday, and Houston's 13-2 win set up a Sunday finale that will decide the AL West.

Hayden Wesneski gave Houston the long outing it desperately needed, limiting the Athletics to two runs over seven innings Saturday night in a 13-2 victory at Sutter Health Park in West Sacramento. The win lifted the Astros to 80-81 and kept them even with the Texas Rangers atop the American League West heading into the final day of the regular season.

Sunday's Game 162 will decide the division. Houston holds the tiebreaker over Texas, meaning an Astros win or a Rangers loss to the Minnesota Twins would seal the AL West title. Both games begin shortly after 2 p.m. CT.

Houston's Sunday starter will be Peter Lambert, who gets the ball on two days' rest after throwing 62 pitches across 2 2/3 innings in Thursday's series opener. Manager Joe Espada hinted at a short leash before the assignment was announced. "We're going to need someone to start the game and give us a couple innings trying to get to the back end" of the bullpen, Espada said.

Wesneski's stamina eased a strain that had been building for days. Before Hunter Brown got through 5 1/3 innings on Friday, Astros starters had failed to complete the third inning in three consecutive games, and the bullpen had absorbed 20 innings in that span. AJ Blubaugh, Bennett Sousa and Logan VanWey had each pitched three of the previous four days, Miguel Ullola was one day removed from a 35-pitch appearance, and Bryan Abreu had pitched Wednesday and Thursday in a row. Closer Josh Hader had been idle since Wednesday, when he threw 44 pitches in Seattle, his biggest regular-season workload since 2019.

The A's, missing several of their best hitters to injury, had added to the strain by scoring four runs off Lambert on Thursday and forcing Brown to 100 pitches on Friday. Wesneski flipped the script, and Houston's offense supplied ample backing with 16 hits and five home runs. Jeremy Peña hit two of the homers and drove in four runs, Yordan Alvarez went deep with three RBIs, and Isaac Paredes and Spence also connected.

With the game out of reach, Espada needed only Ronel Blanco, who covered the final two innings. Hader and Abreu go into Sunday on multiple days of rest, potentially expanding how they can be deployed. "He went above and beyond today," shortstop Jeremy Peña said of Wesneski. "He saved our bullpen. Everyone's fresh for tomorrow."

Efficiency drove Wesneski's night. He needed just 20 pitches to record his first nine outs and threw only five in each of the second and third innings, both of which ended on double plays. "He threw a ton of strikes," Espada said. "And every time he got some guys on base, he got the ground ball."

The start was the 11th of Wesneski's return from elbow surgery. It marked the fifth time in that span he has finished at least six innings, and he has gone seven three times. "The goal was to give us a good quality start just like always and to win the game," Wesneski said. "We need to get through the first and then give our team a chance to win the game."

Houston's next listing on the Global Sportscast schedule is a home date with the Chicago White Sox on Tuesday, September 29 at 5:00 p.m. EDT at Daikin Park, with coverage on Peacock and NBCSN.