The squad is back in Sacramento for some much-needed home games after a tough road trip featuring two series losses. Things don’t get any easier for the A’s though as they’ll welcome a surging Boston Red Sox squad that recently went on a massive winning streak. Maybe they’ve used up all their juice and the A’s will be able to put on their spoiler hats this evening in the first of four games against our AL East rivals.
Getting the ball for the series opener is right-hander Jack Perkins. His first half
was a disaster as he struggled in his return to the starting rotation. He had a solid start to begin his second half when he went five full frames against the Diamondbacks while allowing just three runs off a three-run home run in the first inning. The A’s would take more of the same tonight.
Here’s the starting lineup for tonight’s series opener in Sacramento against the Red Sox:
A healthy mix tonight, though no Nick Kurtz in this one as the club correctly isn’t going to push him too much when he just came off the IL. It’ll be veteran Jeff McNeil at first instead. We’ll get to see Tommy White at the hot corner again tonight. How he does on defense at third base is a major storyline to watch over the rest of the season. Jacob Wilson and Alika Williams will make up the middle infield duo tonight.
The squad is going with Jonah Heim behind the plate again and we can pretty much expect to see him there the rest of the season. The outfield situation is a bit interesting tonight as Lawrence Butler draws the start in right field against a left-handed pitcher. Might as well let him try to work through his struggles against same-handed pitchers over the final couple months. Regular left fielder Tyler Soderstrom will DH in this one. Rookies Colby Thomas and Henry Bolte flank Butler on the grass tonight in left and center field, respectively.
That lineup will be going up against Boston lefty Payton Tolle. The rookie is in the midst of his first full big league season and he’s impressed Boston up to this point. The former top prospect has a fantastic 3.31 ERA over 16 starts this season, rewarding Boston’s faith in the 23-year-old left-hander. This’ll be the second time the Athletics have ever seen him as he started a game last year against the Green & Gold and allowed a pair of runs in two innings of work in his third big league game last September.
And Boston’s batting order tonight against the right-handed Perkins:
Let’s play spoiler and get a win tonight. Let’s go A’s!
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