OAKLAND --
\n\nIt was an improvement from his start earlier this month at Minute Maid Park, where he still pitched well but ended up taking the loss despite allowing only two earned runs over five innings.\n\nThat night, Montas said falling behind in the count was his downfall. On Wednesday, he placed an emphasis on getting ahead of batters, and the results showed.\n\nOf the 25 batters he faced, Montas went to a full count just four times. He induced a first-pitch out on three occasions and did not allow his two walks until the sixth.\n\n“He’s really good,” Astros manager AJ Hinch said. “We got to him a little bit last time, but he’s got really good stuff. He really didn’t concede much of anything. His power, his fastball was good, his breaking ball was good, he threw a split -- his stuff was overpowering tonight.”\n\nWhen Montas did get deeper in counts, he finished off hitters with the splitter in five of his six strikeouts. Perhaps the most impressive of the night came against Jose Altuve in the sixth.\n\nAfter walking George Springer with one out as he appeared to lose control of his fastball, Montas turned to his offspeed stuff. He threw nothing but offspeed pitches to Altuve in the at-bat, with the fifth pitch a nasty splitter down in the zone that got Altuve to swing through for strike three.\n\n“He’s a really good hitter,” Montas said of Altuve. “But I feel like when you pitch him in and out and hit your spots, he’s going to swing. He’s always swinging, always hacking, and I threw the perfect pitch at the right time.”
\n\nPitching on four days of rest, Lou Trivino entered the game in relief of Montas with one on and one out in the seventh and was flawless. The flamethrowing right-hander struck out three batters over a perfect 1 2/3 innings. He now leads all Major League relievers with 19 strikeouts.\n\n“I’ve talked to some of the guys on other teams that have been on base and asked them what facing Trivino is like, none of them say it’s a fun at-bat,” Chapman said. “He’s got four power pitches and that curveball to keep guys off balance is nasty. You don’t see too many guys take good swings off Lou. I’m just happy he’s on our team.”