After a needed day off yesterday the team hits the road for six games. First stop will be in the upper Midwest as the A’s are set to take on the Minnesota Twins for the first of three tonight at Target Field. While the Twins are still “technically” in the playoff hunt, they’ve realistically already waved the white flag on the year with their massive deadline selloff. That should at least give the A’s a leg up this series.
Taking the ball for the road team tonight will be left-hander Jacob Lopez. Preparing
to make his 16th start of the season, Lopez is on his best streak of the season. After allowing five runs on July 21st, Lopez has since made four straight scoreless appearances, tossing 24 full innings while allowing just 14 hits. His past two starts have been arguably his two best appearances of the season as well, going 7 2/3 with 10 strikeouts and then 7 innings with nine K’s in his last one, both outings with zero walks. Overall on the season Lopez is sporting a great 3.30 ERA, though he got roughed up by these same Twins at the beginning of June so he’ll have revenge on his mind this evening.
The Athletics’ batting order for the first game of the road trip looks like this:
The team will go with AL ROTY favorite Nick Kurtz at the top of the lineup to start the series. He’ll be followed by the usual suspects in the heart of the lineup. Lefty JJ Bleday draws the start with a right-handed pitcher going for the Twins. And rookies Brett Harris and Luis Urias round out the lineup at third and second base, respectively.
For the Twins, they’ll have their ace on the mound to kickstart the series. Righty Joe Ryan is having a fantastic season, posting a 2.72 ERA over 24 games. The San Francisco native avoided getting traded this past deadline while many of his teammates were shipped out of town, and the expectation is that the club will seriously consider a trade involving the right-hander during the offseason, meaning this could be the last time the A’s face Ryan in a Twins uniform. The Athletics tagged him for four runs earlier in the year but still ultimately fell to the All-Star.
And here’s Minnesota’s lineup for the first game of the series:
Time to help officially kill the Twins’ postseason hopes. Let’s start the road trip off with a win!
