It’s almost time folks. The A’s are set to begin their road trip with the series opener in Chicago against the Cubs. We need a win desperately and to shake these bad vibes off. A big road trip, which includes a trip to Houston later, would help wipe away these tough past couple of weeks and that begins tonight at Wrigley Field.
The Cubs enter this series like the A’s: having started the year strong before going through a tough past couple of weeks. They’ve dropped 11 of their past 16 games and fallen
to fourth in a competitive NL Central. Their pitching has taken a step back during their recent downturn but the Cubs’ offense has gone completely missing. They’re still above .500 at 32-28 thanks to a huge April but things are trending down for them right now. That’s a similar story to the A’s and now these two desperate teams will hope to right the ship during this series.
Before we get to the game, the A’s made a few roster moves just a few hours before first pitch:
Not as extensive as many thought after Mark Kotsay’s comments the other day. The promotion of Kade Morris and the demotion of Jacob Lopez was widely reported. The A’s will also swap out righty reliever Michael Kelly in exchange for fellow righty Mason Barnett. We may be seeing Barnett in a relief role if needed over the next few days, but if not there is always a chance the team uses him to start Thursday’s game if Morris comes on in relief over the next two games. To make room on the 40-man roster relief pitcher Brooks Kriske lands on the 60-day IL, putting him officially out of action for the foreseeable future.
Back to the game. The starting pitcher for the A’s tonight will be Gage Jump, who is set to make his second career big league start. The left-hander had an up-and-down big league debut last week when he pitched five innings of four-run ball against the Seattle Mariners. It wasn’t the best debut as he allowed nine hits but he also only walked one batter while collecting the first five strikeouts of his career. The Cubs’ offense has been struggling against breaking balls in recent weeks so we may see a steady stream of those from Jump tonight. The team will be hoping that he got his debut jitters out of the way and can improve upon that first start in this one.
Here’s how the Athletics’ lineup looks for the series opener in Chicago:
It’s all the regulars in there tonight. Carlos Cortes is leading off and in right field while Lawrence Butler will be available off the bench.
On the other side of the pitching matchup, it’ll be a veteran taking on the rookie in Jameson Taillon. Now in his 10th big league season the right-hander has begun showing his age. The right-hander has a 5.37 ERA in 11 starts and has gotten hit especially hard in recent outings, allowing 16 earned runs over his past 14 2/3 frames. The A’s may be catching Taillon at the perfect time.
And the Chicago starting lineup tonight:
Both teams are in a rut and need a win. Only one will claim victory tonight. Will it be the Green & Gold? Let’s go A’s!
Follow the Game:
Watch:
Athletics – NBCSCA
Listen:
Athletics – Talk 650 KSTE, A’s Cast
