The Aporia · Spence hits first 3 homers of career, helps Astros survive Athletics 7-5 to keep playoff hopes alive

Spence hits first 3 homers of career, helps Astros survive Athletics 7-5 to keep playoff hopes alive

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The Associated Press. (2026, September 25). Spence hits first 3 homers of career, helps Astros survive Athletics 7-5 to keep playoff hopes alive. Toronto Star. https://www.thestar.com/sports/baseball/spence-hits-first-3-homers-of-career-helps-astros-survive-athletics-7-5-to-keep-playoff-hopes-alive/article_02ae6726-7362-5b08-8765-733044ac31f6.html

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Quick Summary

Lucas Spence hit three home runs in his first major league start, helping the Houston Astros beat the Oakland Athletics 7-5 and keep their playoff hopes alive. The Astros improved to 79-80 and remain tied with the Texas Rangers for the American League West lead as both teams have three games left in the season. Spence, called up by the Astros on Wednesday, had only 40 major league at-bats prior to this game.

Written by AI on 2026-09-25, from this article's own text only (the story summary below draws on all the coverage).

AI analysis

Story summary

On Thursday night, Lucas Spence made history by hitting the first three home runs of his major league career, helping the Houston Astros defeat the Oakland Athletics 7-5 in West Sacramento, California. The game featured additional homers from Christian Walker and Isaac Paredes. This victory kept Houston's playoff hopes alive as they remain tied with the Texas Rangers for the AL West lead at a record of 79-80, with three games left in the regular season. Spence was recently called up by the Astros on Wednesday and had only 40 major league at-bats prior to this game, highlighting his unexpected impact. Houston's Miguel Urrutia earned the win with three scoreless relief innings, while Bryan Abreu secured the save.

Written for “MLB Baseball Game Highlights” on 2026-10-31, grounded in this article and the 0 other(s) covering the same event.

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This article reads unscored and hedges 0% of its claims. Each row says how that neighbour differs.

Bolte and Stefanic each hit 2 RBIs in sixth to lift Athletics past Astros 6-5 Different event

Toronto Star

Hedges 0 of 16 claims Outlet record 64/100

“The articles describe different games between the Astros and Athletics on consecutive days, not the same specific game.”

Yordan Alvarez goes deep as Astros hit 5 homers in 13-2 rout of A's to close in on AL West title Different event

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Hedges 0 of 14 claims Outlet record 64/100

“The articles describe two different games played on separate dates with distinct outcomes and players' performances.”

Houston Astros secure the most embarrassing kind of Major League Baseball history with AL West win Different event

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Hedges 4 of 34 claims Outlet record 70/100

“The articles describe different stages of the season; Article A reports on a game played on September 25 where Lucas Spence hit three home runs, while Article B discusses the final day of the regular season with the AL West race being decided between Houston Astros and Texas Rangers.”

Astros win AL West with 81-81 record, worst for first-place team, beat A's 9-0 Different event

Toronto Star

Hedges 0 of 10 claims Outlet record 64/100

“The articles describe different games: Article A covers a 7-5 win on Thursday night, while Article B describes an 81-game season record and a separate 9-0 game that clinched the AL West title.”

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0 of 14 hedged ("reportedly", "may", "according to")

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takes no side on a contested political question

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64/100

Toronto Star's corrections and hedging, across everything collected from it. Not a measure of accuracy.

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Claims (14 extracted, 0 hedged)

Lucas Spence hit the first three home runs of his major league career, Christian Walker and Isaac Paredes also homered, and the Houston Astros outlasted the Athletics 7-5 on Thursday night. asserted

Astros → hit → night

Houston (79-80) remains tied with the Texas Rangers for the AL West lead with three games left in the regular season for both teams. asserted

Houston → tie → teams

The Astros have the tiebreaker with a 9-4 record against Texas this year. asserted

Astros → have → Texas

Spence hit his second home run of the game in the seventh inning 387 feet to give Houston a 5-4 lead. asserted

Spence → hit → lead

Walker followed with his 27th the season in the eighth before Spence capped the scoring with his third of the game in the ninth. asserted

Spence → follow → ninth

Spence, who was called up by the Astros on Wednesday, had just 40 major league at-bats prior to the game. asserted

who → call → game

Spence’s three-run shot opened the scoring in the second inning and marked the first major league homer of his career. asserted

shot → open → career

Paredes tacked on a game-tying solo shot in the sixth, his 24th of the season. asserted

Paredes → tack → season

Astros’ rookie Miguel Ullola (2-0) worked three scoreless innings of relief after starter Peter Lambert gave up four runs on six hits in 2 2/3 innings. asserted

Lambert → work → innings

Bryan Abreu allowed one hit through the final 1 1/3 frames for his ninth save. asserted

Abreu → allow → save

The Athletics’ Jeff McNeil hit a three-run homer in the third to tie the game and Zack Gelof added a solo shot to give the Athletics a 4-3 lead in the next at-bat. asserted

Gelof → hit → bat

Gelof’s second home run of the game in the eighth pulled the Athletics within a run. asserted

run → pull → run

Scott Blewett (2-2) surrendered the go-ahead run in the seventh after Athletics’ starter Mason Barnett pitched a career-high six innings, giving up four runs on four hits. asserted

Barnett → surrender → hits

Up next Athletics’ LHP Jacob Lopez (6-5, 5.68 ERA) starts game two against the Astros — who have yet to announce a starter — on Friday. asserted

who → start → Friday

Spence hits first 3 homers of career, helps Astros survive Athletics 7-5 to keep playoff hopes alive

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Claims (14 extracted, 0 hedged)