OAKLAND, Calif. -- After winning four of five since the All-Star break, the Oakland Athletics hit a wall.Doug Fister pitched seven innings and Jose Altuve continued his torrid hitting as the Houston Astros defeated the Athletics 7-0 on Wednesday.The Astros avoided a sweep as the As won their second series to start the second half.I dont know whether or not we were flat today, As manager Bob Melvin said. I think it was more Fister today than anything else.Fister (10-6) struck out five and allowed four hits and two walks as he continued his mastery of Oakland. Hes 3-1 with a 0.99 ERA in four starts against the As this season.Seeing them a lot, they know what we do and we know what they do, Fister said. It just comes down to execution, and I was going to fill the zone up.The As failed to advance a runner past second base against Fister. They moved just three runners into scoring position (one on a two-base error).Since the second half started we came in pretty well, Melvin said. There was good energy and good confidence going into game today. He just had a lot to do with the Astros winning.Altuve had a lot to do with the Astros winning too. Baseballs leading hitter was 2 for 3 with two walks, improving his average from .355 to .357.Altuve is 12 for his last 17 in his last four games.Hes truly a superstar in this game that I think more people are getting to know the more we play well, Astros manager A.J. Hinch said.The Astros scored two runs in the second with two outs and nobody on base when five batters reached safely against As starter Daniel Mengden (1-5).Hes still trying to find his rhythm again, Melvin said of Mengden. I think hes getting behind and still trying to jam all four pitches in there as opposed to trying to establish one or two early. Certainly when everything is going well its easy to do. When its not maybe you have to simplify a little bit.Mengden struck out five and allowed three runs, five hits and five walks in five innings. He recovered from a shaky start, blanking the Astros over the last three innings.I couldnt really get in the groove for the first two innings but after that I felt a lot better and finished strong the last three, Mengden said. You always want to throw your best pitches, whatever pitch is working the best for you with the best conviction.The fastball was a little ragged today, so I think we went to the cutter and just got some tough outs. Its a tough lineup all the way around.Fister is 9-3 over his last 15 starts going back to May 1. The Astros are 12-3 over that stretch.Carlos Correa, whos settling into his role as the Astros cleanup hitter nicely, was 1 for 2 with three walks and three RBI.Jake Marisnick and George Springer had two hits each including a double and Jason Castro added a run-scoring triple as the Astros combined for 10 hits.Josh Reddick had two of Oaklands four hits and Daniel Coulombe allowed no hits in two shutout innings in relief of Mengden.BAD STARTS:The Astros and As rank at or near the bottom in virtually every meaningful offensive category out of the designated hitters spot. The Astros .186 and the As .205 batting averages going into Wednesday were the leagues two worst. The As DHs were tied with the Chicago White Sox with the fewest home runs (8) and alone at the bottom with 33 RBI. Houstons DHs ranked third- and fourth-worst in the league with 38 RBI and 11 home runs.ROSTER MOVE:The As recalled utilityman Arismendy Alcantara from Triple-A Nashville before Wednesdays game and in a corresponding move optioned LHP Dillon Overton to Nashville.TRAINERS ROOMAstros: DH Evan Gattis was pulled after getting hit by a Mengden pitch in the right hand in the fifth. X-rays taken were negative and Gattis said hes day-to-today but no fracture.Athletics: LHP Rich Hill, removed five pitches into his last start on Sunday after a blister on his left middle finger burst, is doubtful for Sundays game against the Tampa Bay Rays, the next open spot in the As rotation with Overtons demotion, Melvin said.UP NEXTAstros: RHP Lance McCullers pitches a series opener against the Los Angeles Angels on Friday. McCullers has lost three of his last four decisions. Hes 1-1 with a 2.35 ERA in five career starts against the Angels, allowing one run in a 5 2/3 innings in his only start against the Angels this season.Athletics: RHP Sonny Gray (4-8, 5.12) snapped a career-worst seven-game losing streak in his most recent start and will hope to build on that momentum on Thursday against the Tampa Bay Rays. Gray is 2-1 with a 3.11 ERA in six career starts against the Rays and 2-2 with a 7.01 ERA in five starts against the Eastern Division this year. Cesar Azpilicueta Jersey .875,000, avoiding arbitration. Clippards deal Monday means all eight Nationals players who filed for arbitration wound up settling before a hearing. Gary Cahill Jersey . Ashley Youngs cross was inadvertently headed by Chester into his own net in the 66th minute, allowing United to claim a third straight league win. "We had to dig deep with our fighting spirit and weve done that," United striker Wayne Rooney said. http://www.chelseafcproshop.com/Kids-Emerson-Jersey/ . Once again Jordan Cieciwa (@FitCityJordan) and I (@LynchOnSports) go head to head in our picks. Last weekend at UFC Fight Night 32 my #TeamLynch got the best of #TeamJC by a score of 9-6. Let us know which side youre on for UFC 167 use the hashtag #TeamLynch or #TeamJC on Twitter. Davide Zappacosta Jersey .ca! Hi Kerry, Its another day and here we are looking at another dubious hit to the head. In this case Blue Jackets forward Brandon Dubinsky elbowed Saku Koivu in the head about a second after he dished off the puck to a teammate, knocking him unconscious. Marcos Alonso Jersey . Bryzgalov stopped 25 shots on Saturday in the Oklahoma City Barons 4-1 victory over the Abbotsford Heat. The Oilers signed Bryzgalov to a one-year $2 million contract last Friday after shedding payroll by dealing defenceman Ladislav Smid to the Flames. DETROIT -- Mikael Backlund and the Calgary Flames got their six-game road trip started in the best way possible.Backlund scored the tiebreaking goal with 7:46 left in the third period to give Calgary a 3-2 victory over the slumping Detroit Red Wings on Sunday night.This is huge, because were looking at these six games almost like a playoff series, said Flames defenseman Dougie Hamilton, who had three assists. We know we have to pick up some wins on this trip, and this is a good start.Garnet Hathaway got his first career goal and Matt Stajan also scored for Calgary. Chad Johnson stopped 21 shots.I thought this was a very even game, but we did a nice job of capitalizing on our chances, Flames coach Glen Gulutzan said. We didnt lose any momentum coming out of the Chicago game, where we played very well in a loss.Tomas Tatar and Anthony Mantha scored for Detroit, which lost its fourth straight game. Jimmy Howard made 23 saves.I think we gave them their chances. I think from the start, a few turnovers in our own end, all of a sudden they end up spending a minute, minute and a half in our end instead of making a simple play and move the play out to the neutral zone, Red Wings captain Henrik Zetterberg said.Backlund broke a 2-all tie when he slammed Michael Froliks pass from the left circle past Howard and into the open side of the net for his second goal.We better pick ourselves up and we better come to work tomorrow to get better, Detroit coach Jeff Blashill said. And we better put the work in that it takes to earn confidence come Wednesday (at Buffalo). Thats the bottom line. We better pick ourselves up in a hurry and focus on coming to win a hockey game on Wednesday.Mantha tied it 2-all 7:59 into the third with his first of the season. He put a snap shot under the crossbar on the short side after bringing the puck out from behind the net.Stajan gave the Flames a 2-1 lead at 2:31 of the third with his first goal of the season. He tipped in Hamilltons slap shot from the right point.ddddddddddddathaway tied it 1-all at 3:40 of the second. Hathaway, who was beside the net and battling with a Red Wings player, got the shaft of his stick on a high shot by Hamilton from the top of the right circle and deflected it into the empty side of the net.Thats an amazing feeling. I saw Fer (Micheal Ferland) get the puck to Dougie, so I went to the net, Hathaway said. It was an odd play, because Howard was still flailing around, so I wasnt sure if he had the puck or if it had gone in. Ill probably tell people that I sniped it -- that sounds a lot better. Weve still got five more road games, so it is big to get this one and get some momentum.Tatar gave Detroit a 1-0 lead 8:06 into the game. He blindly slid a puck toward the net from the high slot that beat Johnson. It was Tatars third goal and only his second in 14 games.Howard was forced to make a couple of saves in close after Red Wings giveaways deep in their zone.Detroit defenseman Alexey Marchenko left with an upper-body injury after taking a hit from Ferland with a little less than 5:30 left in the second period. Blashill said Marchenko will likely be out a little while and the team would have more information Monday.Game notes Detroit LW Thomas Vanek returned after missing 11 games with a hip injury. The Red Wings were 3-7-1 without Vanek and averaged under two goals per game. He had four goals and eight points in seven games. ... Calgary forward Johnny Gaudreau missed his second game after sustaining a broken finger on a slash by Minnesota C Eric Staal. Gaudreau will miss six to eight weeks. ... Red Wings C Darren Helm missed his second game after dislocating his shoulder. He also will be out six to eight weeks.UP NEXTFlames: Visit the Buffalo Sabres on Monday night.Red Wings: Visit the Sabres on Wednesday night. Cheap Nike NFL Jerseys Cheap Jerseys China Stitched Jerseys China Jerseys Cheap Jerseys Store Youth NFL Jerseys Cheap Wholesale Nike NFL Jerseys Discount NFL Jerseys Wholesale NFL Camo Jerseys Wholesale NFL White Jerseys Wholesale NFL Camo Jerseys White NFL Jerseys Cheap Camo China NFL Jerseys Cheap NFL Jerseys Jerseys NFL China ' ' '