Alex Bregman homers twice, drives in 4 runs as Astros pound Athletics 9

HOUSTON (AP) — Alex Bregman homered twice and had a season-high four RBIs to lead the Houston Astros to a 9-2 win over the Oakland Athletics on Monday night.

Bregman homered off Oakland starter Ross Stripling (1-7) in the fourth inning, reminiscent of the homer he hit off Stripling in the 2018 All-Star Game. Bregman homered again in the seventh off Mitch Spence. Bregman entered Monday with just one homer in 144 at-bats this season but caught fire and had his sixth career multihomer game.

“That’s what you’re doing when you’re not swinging it good is to find a way to swing it good,” Bregman said. “I actually didn’t feel so good this morning so I worked through a lot of things and ended up going back to old faithful — just knob past the ball. It kind of clicked. I felt good in BP today, and hopefully, I can carry it into tomorrow.”

Bregman later added a double in the eighth that scored Trey Cabbage and Jeremy Peña to put Houston up 7-2. He entered Monday hitting .167 in May and .201 on the season.