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A's get back on track with rout of Astros

Apr 16, 2013 - 6:45 AM Oakland, CA (Sports Network) - It didn't take long for the Oakland Athletics to get back on track.

They had six cross the plate before there were even two outs in the opening frame.

Nate Freiman smacked a three-run homer as part of a six-run first inning in the Oakland Athletics' 11-2 win over the Houston Astros in the opener of a three-game set.

The A's had lost back-to-back games coming in on the heels of a nine-game winning streak.

Tommy Milone (3-0) fanned six and surrendered two runs on eight hits over 6 2/3 frames, while Jed Lowrie tallied two hits, four RBI and a run scored for Oakland.

"He's not going to beat himself. He's going to make his defenders work. He works quick ... He's been the model of consistency," A's manager Bob Melvin said.

Erik Bedard (0-1) lasted just one-third of an inning in the start for Houston, which has dropped three straight contests. He allowed all six of the first- inning runs on four walks and two hits.

Bedard walked his first three batters before striking out Lowrie. A wild pitch allowed Coco Crisp to score before Brandon Moss stroked a two-run single to right. Freiman stepped up next and belted a hanging curveball deep into the left-field seats for his first major league home run to make it 6-0 and knock Bedard out of the game.

"Six runs in the first inning is always a tough deficit to overcome, especially with a guy like Tommy Milone on the mound," Houston manager Bo Porter said. "You knew you had to hit your way back into the game with him on the mound. It put us behind the 8-ball."

Carlos Pena's RBI single in the fourth and Jose Altuve's run-scoring base hit in the seventh cut the deficit to 6-2 before Oakland responded with three runs in the home half of the seventh and two more in the eighth.

Lowrie slapped a two-run single back up the middle and Moss' RBI double increased the advantage to 9-2 in the seventh. Lowrie's two-run single in the eighth made it 11-2.

Game Notes

Pena had two of the Astros' eight hits ... The A's were 5-for-11 with runners in scoring position, while Houston finished 2-for-7 with RISP ... Moss has 13 RBI on the year.