Happy Thursday all!
The A’s have taken the first two of three versus the Chicago Cubs after winning Tuesday, coming back in last night’s game and giving themselves a chance at a series sweep. They sit at 30-31, in second place in the AL West by two games and currently occupying the third and final Wild Card spot with a half-game lead over the Texas Rangers. The American League is weirdly bunched together two months into the season. For example, the Boston Red Sox are eight games under .500 but still
within three and a half games of a playoff spot (but with five teams ahead of them). The Wild Card race is looking more and more likely it’ll be a year-long affair involving a majority of the teams in the Junior Circuit.
For tonight’s finale in The Windy City, it’ll be J.T. Ginn getting the ball hoping to propel the A’s to a series win. He’s coming off a fantastic performance last time out when he shut down the New York Yankees’ potent offense for six scoreless innings last weekend. The A’s would gladly take more of the same from their young right-hander this evening. The A’s have set themselves up for the sweep and have their best pitcher on the mound. Getting out of Chicago with three wins is very doable.
Off the field, shortstop Jacob Wilson continues to progress from his dislocated shoulder. He was seen taking batting practice at Wrigley Field yesterday afternoon before the game, and from the video it seems like his shoulder is in good shape:
It seems that the team really did avoid a worst-case scenario with Wilson’s shoulder. Many times shoulder dislocations require surgery, or at a minimum any absence is measured in months not weeks. Since he’s been out for a good chunk of time it’s almost certain he’ll be going on a rehab assignment down in the minors, but he’s such a good hitter that he may not need more than a few at bats against lower-level pitching to be ready for an activation.
The A’s defense can not wait until Wilson returns. The shortstop has been out now for three-plus weeks and it’ll certainly be a full month before the team gets him back. Darell Hernaiz has handled shortstop duties in Wilson’s absence and has gone 17-for-58 (good for a .293 average) since taking over regular duties. He hasn’t been a huge liability in the field either, but the team is clearly better with Wilson in the everyday role. It’s good to know that Hernaiz can hold his own in a pinch moving forward.
Next up will be the Houston Astros. We will have a surprise starter on the mound tomorrow, not one of the arms that was just called up earlier in the week:
The promotion of Perkins to the starting rotation will make plenty of A’s fans happy. There was a belief that Friday’s series opener would feature either Kade Morris or Mason Barnett getting the ball for the start but it’ll instead be the right-hander who has been in the Athletics’ bullpen all season long.
The former 5th-round pick came up as a starting pitcher and turned heads on his way to the big leagues but has been used almost exclusively as a relief pitcher over the past two seasons. So far in 17 games for the A’s this year Perkins has a 5.46 ERA across 28 frames. He’s been hit especially hard in recent outings; the right-hander posted a 7.98 ERA in the month of May in just nine appearances out of the ‘pen. They’re not exactly promoting him to the starting five when he’s rolling.
He did make four starts in September to wrap up the year and held his own. There has been a belief that the bullpen is his likely long-term home but it seems the club is finally ready to give him a look here in 2026. With the state of the rotation right now there’s every chance that Perkins can parlay a strong start into another and hopefully follow a similar track as Ginn. High hopes but why not?
Morris and Barnett are as of this posting available for a Saturday afternoon start in the second game of the Houston series but nothing outside of Perkins getting the ball for the series opener in Houston has been confirmed. Neither of them pitched in the first two Cubs games so if one of them makes it into today’s finale, we’ll know Saturday’s starter is likely the other guy. Who would you guys rather start on Saturday in Houston?
Have a great day A’s fans.
A’s Coverage:
- Wednesday Potpourri: What’s Up With Butler, Closer, June Plan?
- Jump Dominant As Athletics Beat Cubs 2-1
- Three Things To Watch For The Athletics In June
- The A’s Inability To Play Well At Home Is Embarrassing
- A’s Unravel in Series and Homestand Finale
- A’s call up pitching prospect Kade Morris
- Road, sweet road? A’s ready for reset after rough homestand
- Ginn’s glow-up: A’s hurler coming into his own at right time
- Three Dark Horse Trade Candidates for Athletics This Summer
- June update: 2026 top 10 prospect rankings for all 30 MLB teams
- Athletics Early MLB Draft Preview
- The A’s may have finally found their new leadoff hitter
- A’s drop the game and Series to the Mariners, fall into second place
- Wilson takes swings in next step toward return from IL
MLB News and Interest:
- Corbin Burnes Suffers Teres Major Strain, Likely Out Until September
- Blue Jays To Acquire Simeon Woods Richardson From Twins
- Breaking down the All-Star Ballot position by position
- Altuve takes live BP, could return as early as weekend series vs. A’s
- Commissioner Manfred discusses exchange of initial proposals to begin CBA talks
- Padres designate Nick Castellanos for assignment; Taylor called up
- The Trade Deadline is 2 months away, but rumors are already swirling around Skubal
- Mets option Tong to Triple-A, recall Gerber to refresh bullpen
- Reds Option TJ Friedl, Recall Noelvi Marté
- Angels Re-Sign Joey Lucchesi On Minor League Deal
- Giants reliever Matt Gage goes on IL with knee inflammation
- The Pirates Finally Have an Offense
- Today in Baseball History
Best of X:
Kurtz is your May AL Player of the Month!
It was always meant to be:
…..oh…. (this was before last night’s game, too):
Even though it’ll be Perkins on Friday, it seems Morris and Barnett are still in the running for a start on Saturday:
