It‘s Paul Blackburn (1-0, 1.50) vs. Gerrit Cole (7-1, 2.16) in tonight‘s second of three home games against the Astros. Last night, the ‘Stros continued their dominant ways against Daniel Mengden and our boys in green in gold, winning yet again (A’s are 1-6 against HOU in 2018).
Tonight, Blackburn makes his second start of the season after spending the first two months on the DL. He exceeded expectations in start #1, throwing an economical 67 pitches through 6 innings, allowing only one run in Kansas City. Tonight, he faces a much more challenging line-up which includes A’s killer, Evan Gattis at DH.
On offense, the A’s will have their hands full tonight as well, facing Cole, who is turning in one of the best pitching performances of the first half. Matt Chapman comes into tonight’s game on a hot streak (3 Doubles last night, 5 game hitting streak), Jed Lowrie comes into tonight frigid (0 for his last 17).
I have a special feeling about tonight though (it may be just the breakfast burrito I had this morning). The A’s are poised to break the stranglehold Houston has on them, I predict double digit runs for the hometeam capped by a Piscotty Grand Slam. Check back later for results...
Here are tonight’s line-ups: