Dallas Keuchel delivered his 18th quality start despite giving up 10 hits, matching his season high. Fellow All-Star Sonny Gray did a little better.
Luis Valbuena hit a home run, a screaming line drive that landed well up in the bleachers in right field and that was the only mistake Gray made in helping the Oakland Athletics beat the Houston Astros 3-1 on Friday night.
"He's one of the best pitchers in the league," Astros manager A.J. Hinch said. "We had six or seven well-hit outs. I thought we put up good at-bats. We didn't get the results we wanted, but I can't argue too much with the quality of at-bats we put up. It was definitely Gray's night."
Grey (12-4), who struck out five and did not walk a batter in his third complete game, concurred.
"They're aggressive and they hit a lot of balls hard," Gray said. "They were taking some pretty big swings and we were a little fortunate that they hit them to guys. I wanted to challenge them with my fastball and make them put the ball in play as quick as possible. Guys made some good plays behind me."
Grey had 10 outs on fly balls to the outfield, with several of them reaching the warning track, including a nice running catch by Sam Fuld that robbed Colby Ramus of extra bases in the seventh. That inning ended when Danny Valencia, who hit a home run against Keuchel, ran down a pop up by Preston Tucker near the seats in the expansive foul territory.
Keuchel (13-6) got 18 groundball outs and just a handful of fly outs. He walked two and struck out three, matching his season low.
"Even though they didn't really hit the ball extremely hard off me, it was some good luck for them," Keuchel said. "But I can't put myself in hitters' counts consistently early on. I need to find my groove. Sonny pitched a heck of a game."
The Astros had beaten Oakland the previous six times Keuchel started.
"We knew going into the game that this was going to be a pretty difficult task on both sides," Astros manager A.J. Hinch said. "They found some hits, they found some holes. I thought Dallas did a good job of holding them down a little bit."
Billy Burns had two hits and drove in a run and Marcus Semien had three hits as the A's improved to 4-3 over their past seven games.
The A's took a 1-0 lead in the second. Josh Phegley, Semien and Mark Canha singled to load the bases. After Keuchel struck out Fuld, Burns hit a sacrifice fly.
It was 2-0 when Valbuena crushed a 3-2 pitch from Gray over the fence in right field to close the gap. Phegley doubled home Brett Lawrie, who had been hit by a pitch, in the fifth for the final margin.
NEW ASTRO
Houston added help in the bullpen, acquiring lefty reliever Oliver Perez from Arizona for a minor league pitcher.
The trade was announced Friday night following Arizona's 2-0 victory over Cincinnati. The 33-year-old Perez is 2-1 with a 3.10 ERA in 48 appearances this season. He leaves Arizona with a 19-game scoreless streak that is tied for the third-longest in Diamondbacks history.
Arizona gets 19-year-old lefty Junior Garcia in the deal and will call up another left-hander, Keith Hessler, from Triple-A Reno to fill Perez's spot in the bullpen.
TRAINER'S ROOM
Astros: OF Preston Tucker (right arm contusion) was in the starting lineup Friday night after missing two games.
Athletics: OF Josh Reddick, nursing a sore back, was out of the starting lineup Friday night against Keuchel. Reddick is 1 for 15 lifetime against Keuchel. ... The A's acquired minor-league RHP Darwin Frias from the New York Mets on Friday as the player to be named in the Aug. 4 trade of LHP Eric O'Flaherty. Frias, 23 was assigned to Class-A Vermont.
UP NEXT:
Astros: RHP Collin McHugh (13-5, 4.27) has won four straight decisions. He's 2-0 against the A's with a 1.26 ERA. McHugh has recorded 18 strikeouts in 14 1-3 innings against Oakland.
Athletics: RHP Jesse Chavez (5-11, 3.88) is 1-2 with a 6.62 ERA in four starts since the All-Star break. He's 2-1 with a 3.16 ERA in 20 appearances, including four starts, against the Astros.
This content appears as provided to The Globe by the originating wire service. It has not been edited by Globe staff.