The Houston Astros crushed the Oakland Athletics 11-0 on Saturday afternoon at Sutter Health Park in West Sacramento. Tatsuya Imai delivered 5 2/3 scoreless innings in his first career road start, striking out nine. The offense erupted for a season-high 18 hits and 13 walks, the most walks in a game since 2000.
Houston's dominance began on the mound with Imai, who rebounded sharply from his major league debut. He allowed three hits and three walks while throwing 58 of 94 pitches for strikes. His slider generated 10 swings and misses, and his four-seam fastball topped out at 96.1 mph, complementing splitters and curveballs in a pitch mix heavy on sliders and fastballs. Imai's nine strikeouts came on 18 whiffs from 40 swings, silencing Oakland's bats completely. This marked the Astros' largest margin of victory this season, following a 0-2 start and now 6-1 over their last seven games with an average of 8.3 runs per game. Offensively, contributions came from everywhere in the lineup. Christian Walker and Cam Smith hit solo home runs in the third and eighth innings, respectively, but Houston needed only those two long balls amid relentless hitting and patience at the plate. Walker, Joey Loperfido and Christian Vázquez each collected three hits, while Yordan Alvarez tied his career high with four walks in his first four plate appearances and added an RBI single in the sixth to extend the lead to 10-0. The 13 walks rank third-most in club history for a nine-inning game.
