Game Thread #140: A's vs. Houston

Tonight, the A's, winners of eight of their past ten games, look to keep the momentum going as they face off against the last-place Houston Astros. Oakland is 12-3 against the Astros this season, but could easily be 15-0 — a fluke blown save by Grant Balfour (at the time, his first of the year) plus two "not quite but insanely close to being home runs" from Chris Young gifted three wins to Houston.

Sonny Gray is making the start for the A's, having thrown eight shutout innings in his last start against Houston. He's 2-2 with a 2.57 ERA on the year.

Interestingly, Gray is opposed by another former highly-touted prospect who has roots in the Oakland organization. That would be Brad Peacock, who's seen a lot more big league action than A's fans would've expected him to in 2013. But such is the nature of Astros baseball. As one might expect, Peacock has performed shakily in a somewhat forced and certainly less-than-ideal situation, posting a record of 3-5 alongside an ERA of 5.98.

Bob Melvin is going with his "lefty" lineup against the right-handed Peacock — as is the norm against right-handed pitching, Yoenis Cespedes and Josh Donaldson are the only true righties in the lineup tonight. Daric Barton, the topic of much recent (and not-so-recent) debate here on Athletics Nation, is getting the start at first base, while Seth Smith is DHing and Brandon Moss is playing right field.

Lineups:

First pitch from the Coliseum is at 7:05pm.