Game #63: A’s vs. Twins Game Thread

A win is coming

Desperate doesn’t begin to describe it. Losers of eight straight and 19 of their past 20, the Athletics have seen their prospects for this season seemingly evaporate within the span of just a couple weeks. The team will try to climb back into the hunt but it’s now June and the team needs every win they can get from here on out. A victory today would be a great start.

The A’s will be going with the opener strategy again for the second straight evening. Right-hander Justin Sterner will get the call to start this game for the Green & Gold and he’ll try to get his squad out to a good start. Yesterday the club went with Grant Holman as the opener and he pitched not only the first inning but also to the first two batters of the second. Both of those batters got on against Holman so there’s a bit of a risk going with your opener for more than the designated first inning.

The bulk pitcher following Sterner will be left-hander Jeffrey Springs. The 32-year-old started this season with massive, massive struggles in the first two innings. He had seemed to get over those demons but they reared their ugly head again in his previous start when he allowed six runs in just two innings of work. Maybe going with an opener ahead of Springs will take some pressure off him and enter this game in a better position to succeed. We’ll see how he does in his first assignment as a bulk pitcher. Overall he has a 4.72 ERA on the year.

Mark Kotsay’s lineup for what will hopefully be a huge win:

As he said last night Jacob Wilson is back in there after a night off. The offense isn’t the same without him so it’s great to see him in the starting lineup. Not many other surprises in the starting lineup as most of the regulars are playing tonight. Tyler Soderstrom continues to handle first base in Nick Kurtz’ absence, opening up left field for JJ Bleday, who went 0-for-3 with a walk in his first game back from Triple-A last night.

The one new name in the lineup tonight is infielder Max Muncy. After getting called up earlier today he’s getting thrown right into the starting lineup. He’s been tearing the cover off the ball in Triple-A but now he has to make that translate to the majors if he wants this promotion to be permanent. With third base open it’s a great opportunity for Muncy to run away with the job.

The bats will be facing Twins rookie right-hander Zebby Matthews for tonight’s contest, arguably their weakest link in their starting rotation. So far in three starts this year he’s allowed 10 runs so hopefully the offense can take advantage of him. Nothing has come easy for the club over the past few weeks though so they can’t go into this game thinking it’s going to be a walk in the park. They need to put their foot on the pedal and not let up for nine innings against the Twins’ pitchers.

The Twins’ starting lineup:

A late scratch from the Twins tonight as shortstop Carlos Correa will not play in the third game against the A’s due to some back tightness. That should help the pitchers as even though he’s having a less-than-impressive season Correa is still dangerous hitter with lots of huge hits against the A’s over the years. Glad to see he won’t play tonight.

Let’s go A’s!