HOUSTON — Sam Moll has been one of the most dependable relief pitchers for the A’s this season. Unfortunately for Oakland, the left-hander had one of his worst outings of the season Friday night.

Moll gave up a fifth-inning grand slam to Kyle Tucker, whose blast rallied the Houston Astros to a 7-5 win over Oakland.

Houston trailed 2-0 before breaking loose for a six-run rally in the fifth. José Altuve doubled and scored on a single by Yuli Gurriel. Yordan Alvarez followed with another single, and Alex Bregman walked to load the bases for Tucker. After Tucker missed badly on an 82 mph slider from Moll to make it a 1-2 count, the left-hander went back to the same pitch and this time Tucker pulled it a few rows deep into the right field seats.

Moll, who came into the game with a sparkling 2.02 earned run average, didn’t retire any of the four batters he faced Friday as his ERA jumped to 3.03.

“For Sammy, he’s been one of our top relievers, especially against left-hander … he’s gotten big outs for us,” A’s manager Mark Kotsay said. “Tonight, he just didn’t execute the slider to Tucker. He left it up.”

And Tucker hit it out for his 21st homer of the season, giving Houston a 5-2 lead. After Moll (2-1) was replaced, Aledmys Díaz singled and Jeremy Peña doubled to keep the rally going and extend the lead to 6-2.

Astros starter Luis Garcia (9-8) went six innings, allowing four runs on eight hits while striking out six. Garcia snapped a three-game losing streak after receiving three runs or less of run support in each of those starts.

“We had 11 hits, they had 11 hits. It was unfortunate one of them was a grand slam,” Kotsay said.

Oakland had plenty of traffic on the bases early against Garcia. Jonah Bride doubled in the second inning to score Vimael Machín, and Tony Kemp scored in the third inning on a balk by Garcia that put Oakland up 2-0. Garcia and Astros manager Dusty Baker briefly argued with the umpires after the call.

Skye Bolt doubled off Will Smith in the seventh to score Bride and Machín. Bolt scored on a single by Ramón Laureano to pull Oakland within 6-5.

The A’s loaded the bases on Ryne Stanek in the eighth, but Stanek got Bolt to ground out to end the threat and hold the lead.

The Astros added an insurance run in the eighth after Peña scored on a sacrifice fly by Mauricio Dubón to make it 7-5.

Astros reliever Hector Neris pitched a scoreless ninth for his second save of the season.

Oakland starter Adam Oller pitched 4 2/3 innings, allowing five hits and two earned runs.

Houston has won three of its last four. At 73-41, the Astros hold a two-game lead over the Yankees for the best record in the American League.

UP NEXT

Athletics: Zach Logue (3-5, 4.79) starts on Saturday. He allowed two runs and three hits in five innings of a 3-2 win over Houston on July 9.

Astros: Lance McCullers Jr. will make his 2022 debut after missing the first four months of the season with a forearm strain.