HOUSTON -- Brian Serven homered as part of a six-run fifth, Max Muncy hit a go-ahead home run and Jack Perkins earned his first win since April as the Athletics rallied for a 7-6 win over the Astros on Sunday afternoon in the rubber game of this series at Daikin Park.
Muncy gave the Athletics a one-run lead in the seventh with a solo home run to left-center.
Trailing, 6-0, heading into the fifth, the A’s rallied to tie it up.
Donovan Walton singled to lead off the inning and Darell Hernaiz walked to set up Serven’s Statcast-projected 402-foot three-run homer to cut the lead in half.
Henry Bolte singled, and after Carlos Cortes struck out, Zack Gelof was hit by a pitch to set up Lawrence Butler’s RBI double and Tommy White’s two-run single to knot the score at 6.
The Astros jumped on opener Brady Basso for three runs in the first, capped by a two-run homer by Jose Altuve.
Perkins, who was the main pitcher for the A’s, struggled with his command in the second inning, walking the bases loaded before issuing a walk to Altuve to make it 4-0.
Isaac Paredes added a two-run homer in the fourth.
Perkins yielded three runs (one earned) on three hits with six strikeouts in five innings, but he issued a career-high five walks. He picked up his first win since April 18, snapping a nine-game losing streak.