Rise and shine everyone! We got our last early morning game of the year! The A’s have lost the first two games of the series to the Rays but we got a chance to salvage a win today and hopefully we can avoid the sweep. Both of the previous two games have been close so if the A’s can just sharpen up a couple things they can steal one away from Tampa and get out of Florida with a win.
The Athletics will send left-hander Jeffrey Springs to the bump for the early morning start. This should be familiar
stomping grounds for the veteran as it’s where he broke out and made a name for himself in the big leagues. His four years with the Rays were marked by great performance… when healthy. And for those final couple years he really wasn’t. That led to his trade to the A’s, where he’s seemingly wrapping up his tenure with these last couple starts.
Springs’ final season in the Green & Gold hasn’t gone well overall. He started great before faltering during the summer, especially struggling with the long ball. He’s put together a couple good starts in his most recent outings though, pitching seven shutout innings of two-hit ball against the Mariners before coming back and seeing them again, this time allowing just a pair of runs in five frames. If he can do something like either of those against his former team the A’s will gladly take it today.
Here’s how the lineup looks this morning:
As you may notice, our leadoff man Henry Bolte is sliding over to left field while Denzel Clarke draws the start in center field. The rest of the top half of the lineup looks like the usual suspects, with Zack Gelof manning the hot corner today.
Elsewhere in the lineup Donovan Walton draws the start at the keystone and his double play partner will be Alika Williams. Rookie Tommy White gets another start after a strong 3-hit day yesterday and Jonah Heim rejoins the starting nine after a day off yesterday.
Tampa meanwhile has one of their best pitchers opposite Springs today in Drew Rasumussen. The right-hander has been a workhorse for the Rays and an extremely effective one at that, especially against the lineups in the AL East. He comes into this one with a 2.81 ERA in 28 starts and he’s been just as strong down the stretch coming into this one. He looks like he’s getting himself into playoff form so the Athletics’ offense needs to cash in on the few opportunities they’re likely to get.
And the Rays’ starting nine this morning looks like this:
Avoid the sweep. Get win #62. Make life hard on the Rays. Lots to do this morning. Let’s go A’s!
Follow the Game:
Watch:
Athletics – NBCSCA
Listen:
Athletics – Talk 650 KSTE, A’s Cast
