Yesterday, the Athletics opened their final road-trip of the season with a 2-1 walk-off loss to the Tampa Bay Rays. Despite the tough defeat, right-hander Jack Perkins’ quality start gave the team a positive take away heading into today’s middle game of the series.
Injury Update
Before the game, the A’s received promising news concerning minor league outfielder Ryan Lasko, who suffered a serious spinal cord injury earlier this season. He fractured the C6-C7 vertebrae in his neck after colliding with teammate Devin
Taylor while chasing a fly ball in a game a few months ago.
Game Preview
Shifting back to the contest, left-hander Brady Basso will start this evening for the A’s. The 28-year-old left-hander enters his 24th appearance and sixth start of the season with a 1-2 record, a 3.86 ERA and 28 strikeouts over 37 1/3 innings.
Basso has been stretched out over his last three appearances, serving as the opener in two of them. In his most recent outing against the Toronto Blue Jays, the southpaw effectively functioned as the Athletics’ starter, tossing a season-high four scoreless innings with four strikeouts.
Basso pitched in one game when the A’s faced the Rays in Sacramento, allowing one run on three hits over two innings of relief. The Athletics would welcome another strong outing from Basso in his second appearance and first start against Tampa Bay.
However, if Basso struggles and winds up only pitching an inning or two, the A’s have a relatively well-rested bullpen ready to pick him up and pitch the rest of the game. Hard-throwing right-handers Luis Medina and Elvis Alvarado only threw three pitches last night, with Alvarado allowing Junior Caminero’s walk-off home run.
Here’s the Athletics’ lineup for tonight’s matchup:
Having lost their 90th game of the season in the series opener, this lineup offers little hope for a bounce-back win. The quality of the lineup falls off dramatically after the top five, but that is unsurprising for this injury-plagued club playing out the remainder of its fifth straight losing season.
Shortstop Donovan Walton has been a nice find. Is the journeyman infielder’s level of success sustainable, or will he find himself on the fifth different team of his career next season? Also haven’t the A’s seen enough of left fielder Carlos Cortes and first baseman Tommy White lately to know that they do not bring enough to the table on either side of the ball?
White’s prospect pedigree has failed to show up through his first 45 MLB games, as he has gone from a defensively challenged slugger in college to an improving, but still defensively limited singles hitter in professional baseball. At least center fielder Denzel Clarke, who is sitting on the bench once again, has a standout glove in his toolbox.
Given the players starting and the Rays’ pitcher tonight, it would not be surprising if the A’s struggle offensively for a second consecutive night. If the A’s want a series-evening victory, the team will need its regulars at the top of the lineup to lead the way.
The Rays, meanwhile, have right-hander Nick Martinez taking the ball. The 36-year-old has been a revelation in his first season with Tampa Bay, playing a major role in the team’s league-best performance. Martinez enters his 29th start of the season with a 14-4 record, a 2.92 ERA, a 1.07 WHIP and 98 strikeouts over 166 1/3 innings. While the veteran does not rack up the strikeouts, he does an excellent job of inducing soft contact and limiting baserunners.
The right-hander pitched a complete game, helping the Rays sweep the Athletics when these teams met in Sacramento last month. Martinez has had plenty of success against the Green and Gold throughout his career, going 5-5 with a 2.90 ERA and 52 strikeouts in his first 17 appearances against the A’s.
Will Martinez continue to dominate A’s batters, or will the Athletics’ offense find a way to score runs against the crafty veteran?
Tampa Bay’s starting nine:
The Rays are rolling with a lineup loaded with right-handed hitters to counter Basso. That means first baseman Ryan Vilade, center fielder Jonny DeLuca, second baseman Nick Madrigal and catcher Nick Fortes all get their first starts of the series.
Should the A’s replace Basso with a right-hander, it is highly likely that left-handed hitters Liam Hicks and Jonathan Aranda will come off the bench to pinch-hit, especially in late-game or run-scoring situations. Until then, Basso and the rest of the Athletics’ pitching staff must be particularly careful with Yandy Díaz and Caminero, who has hit two walk-off home runs in a span of five days.
Time to beat the Rays for the first time this season. Let’s go A’s!
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