Back home! Fresh off a successful 4-2 road trip, the A’s are back in Sacramento tonight ready to play host to the playoff-bound Detroit Tigers.
Detroit comes into this one with the second-best record in baseball and the best in the American League. They’re also riding a hot streak as they’ve won 12 of their past 16 games. They’re sitting comfortably atop of the American League Central with a 10.5 game lead over the Royals and the Tigers are more or less on cruise control and preparing for the playoffs.
This young group made it to the ALDS last year but will be looking to go father this time around with higher stakes and higher expectations. No spoiler role for the A’s here tonight but maybe we can inception some concern into Detroit’s club.
Taking the ball for the A’s will be righty JT Ginn. It’s been an up-and-down season to say the least for the 26-year-old right-hander. The same can be said of his second stint in the starting rotation. Through six starts Ginn posted two quality outings, followed by a couple duds and then an implosion. He bounced back to a degree in his last time out when he allowed just two runs to the Twins, though he wasn’t able to finish five full frames in what became an eventual A’s win. Overall on the year the young arm has a 4.95 ERA across 17 games (10 starts).
With an ace right-hander on the opposing mound, here’s how manager Mark Kotsay elected to sort his lineup for the series opener:
We got our starting catcher Shea Langeliers back atop the lineup leading things off for us tonight. He’ll be followed by Jacob Wilson, who ascends to the #2 spot after batting in the 5-hole since his activation off the IL. DH Brent Rooker, center fielder Colby Thomas, and tonight’s third baseman Darell Hernaiz all follow immediately after, with Kotsay stacking the first five spots in the lineup with right-handed hitters, with Tyler Soderstrom his first lefty batter at the six spot.
You may have noticed no Nick Kurtz, and no he will not be among the starting nine tonight. Instead the righty-swinging Brett Harris will man first base, who has all of three innings of experience there in the major leagues. The team also welcomes back a familiar face as Zack Gelof rejoins the lineup after getting recalled earlier in the day. And the lineup wraps up with the second lefty as JJ Bleday handles the ninth spot in the batting order and left field tonight.
For the Tigers, they’ll have their big gun on the bump tonight as reigning AL Cy Young award winner Tarik Skubal gets the call for the first game of the series. Shockingly Skubal is having an even better year than last season’s award-winning campaign. The left-hander has posted a 2.32 ERA across 25 starts while leading the Tigers starting staff and will certainly be their Game 1 starter when October rolls around. The A’s have already seen him once this year and actually did some damage against the ace righty, putting up four runs in six innings against Skubal so the A’s have that going for them.
Detroit’s starting nine tonight:
No spoiler hats tonight. But does it matter? Let’s go A’s!
