Bo Porter watched Bud Norris’ pitch count slowly rise: 105, 112, 115. The first-year Astros manager didn’t have to speak to his starting righthander; Porter just studied and believed. And he patiently watched from the dugout while Norris continually dug in, clenched a hard white ball and fired away Saturday during a 6-3 defeat to the Athletics at Minute Maid Park before a crowd of 18,865. By the time former Astros (1-4) shortstop Jed Lowrie had pulled the A’s within 3-2 via a sixth-inning solo home run and Oakland (4-2) had runners on first and second with two out, Porter decided to check on Norris. But not to pull his [...]