The Oakland Athletics will try to win their first series in five tries today as they face the Seattle Mariners at Safeco Field. First pitch is at 1:10 PM Pacific Time. The A's last won two out of three in a series against the Houston Astros between August 25-27. The A's are also trying to win consecutive games for the first time since August 22 and 23, when they beat the Los Angeles Angels at the Coliseum.
Jon Lester takes the hill for the Athletics, sporting a 14-10 record and a 2.52 ERA that is good for fourth-best in the American League. His only start against the Mariners this year came with Oakland on September 3, a hard-luck 2-1 after giving up back-to-back home runs to Kyle Seager and Corey Hart. The Athletics had only three hits in that game, the only run coming on an Adam Dunn solo home run.
Opposing Lester will be Chris Young. The journeyman 35-year-old has faced the A's five times this year. In his most recent start against the A's on September 1, the A's knocked Young out of the game after ⅔ of an inning charged with two walks, four hits including a home run, and five earned runs. Overall against Oakland, Young is 1-2 with a 4.35 ERA in 20⅔ innings pitched. He has given up as many walks as he has struck out Athletics, five.
The A's repeat their lineup from last night that earned seven hits in seven innings and a lot of loud contact against Felix Hernandez on Saturday night. Derek Norris has never faced Chris Young, likely because John Jaso or Stephen Vogt were behind the plate for each of those starts.
Athletics vs. Chris Young (thru Sep. 13) | ||||||||||||||
Name | PA | AB | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | BB | SO | BA | OBP | SLG | OPS | |
1 | Coco Crisp | 12 | 12 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | .167 | .167 | .167 | .333 |
2 | Sam Fuld | 5 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | .600 | .600 | 1.200 | 1.800 |
3 | Josh Donaldson | 10 | 10 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .100 | .100 | .100 | .200 |
4 | Adam Dunn | 3 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 2 | .333 | .333 | 1.333 | 1.667 |
5 | Brandon Moss | 11 | 9 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 2 | .333 | .455 | 1.000 | 1.455 |
6 | Jed Lowrie | 8 | 7 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | .429 | .375 | .571 | .946 |
7 | Josh Reddick | 4 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .333 | .500 | .667 | 1.167 |
8 | Derek Norris | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||
9 | Eric Sogard | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | .000 | .000 | .000 |
Nick Punto | 11 | 10 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | .400 | .455 | .400 | .855 | |
+ | Geovany Soto | 6 | 6 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 0 | .500 | .500 | 1.000 | 1.500 |
Alberto Callaspo | 5 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .000 | .200 | .000 | .200 | |
+ | Craig Gentry | 4 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | .250 | .250 | .250 | .500 |
Jonny Gomes | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | .000 | .000 | .000 | |
+ | Stephen Vogt | 4 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .000 | .250 | .000 | .250 |
Jason Hammel | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .000 | .000 | .000 | .000 | |
Andy Parrino | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1.000 | 1.000 | 2.000 | 3.000 | |
Total | 95 | 87 | 23 | 3 | 0 | 5 | 13 | 7 | 12 | .264 | .316 | .471 | .787 |
The Mariners made a few changes to the lineup that scored two runs on Jon Lester on September 3. Most notably, Justin Smoak gets the start at first base, he is 5-for-13 with two doubles against Lester in his career. Jesus Sucre will get his first career plate appearance today, he bats ninth and catches for Seattle.
Mariners v. Jon Lester (thru Sep. 13) | ||||||||||||||
Name | PA | AB | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | BB | SO | BA | OBP | SLG | OPS | |
1 | Austin Jackson | 29 | 27 | 10 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 5 | .370 | .414 | .407 | .821 |
2 | Chris Denorfia | 11 | 11 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | .091 | .091 | .091 | .182 |
3 | Robinson Cano | 79 | 73 | 18 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 5 | 15 | .247 | .291 | .329 | .620 |
4 | Kendrys Morales | 16 | 16 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | .125 | .125 | .188 | .313 |
5 | Corey Hart | 7 | 6 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 | .333 | .429 | 1.333 | 1.762 |
6 | Kyle Seager | 13 | 13 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 0 | .308 | .308 | .846 | 1.154 |
7 | Justin Smoak | 13 | 13 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4 | .385 | .385 | .538 | .923 |
8 | Chris Taylor | 3 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .333 | .333 | .667 | 1.000 |
9 | Jesus Sucre | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||
Michael Saunders | 8 | 7 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 2 | .429 | .500 | .857 | 1.357 | |
+ | Dustin Ackley | 7 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .286 | .286 | .286 | .571 |
Endy Chavez | 6 | 6 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .333 | .333 | .333 | .667 | |
Mike Zunino | 6 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .600 | .667 | .600 | 1.267 | |
Brad Miller | 3 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .333 | .333 | .333 | .667 | |
Stefen Romero | 3 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .333 | .333 | .333 | .667 | |
Humberto Quintero | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | .000 | .000 | .000 | |
Total | 206 | 195 | 55 | 12 | 0 | 5 | 19 | 10 | 35 | .282 | .316 | .421 | .736 |
Statistics courtesy of Baseball Reference.
Maybe Rally Possum was our Jobu
I think I sat on a few opossums?
— A bear (@A_single_bear) September 13, 2014
Bear down!
Home plate umpire Jim Wolf
Jim Wolf has worked as an MLB umpire since 1999. According to Deadspin's Better Know an Umpire series, pitcher Randy Wolf is Jim Wolf's brother. You may recall that perhaps the only reason Chris Young is even with the Mariners is that Randy Wolf refused to sign a contract that included a clause that would have allowed the Mariners to release Randy within the first 45 days of the season.
Wolf's 3.53 umpire ERA slightly favors the pitcher, when compared to the MLB ERA of 3.75. He called Yusmeiro Petit's 84-pitch one-run game against the Arizona Diamondbacks on September 9:
Notable notables
Highlights from the Oakland Athletics Expanded Game Notes (PDF):
- Alberto Callaspo has a five-game on base streak, including three pinch-hit walks in his last five games. He is tied for second in the American League with five pinch hit walks. He is 3-for-6 with three RBI and five walks in the pinch for a .727 on-base percentage.
- Saturday's winning pitcher Luke Gregerson has not allowed an earned run in seven straight games. He is one of four Major League pitchers with at elast 60 games pitched in each of the last six seasons (Papelbon, Thornotn, Ziegler). His 429 games pitched since 2009 are the most in the majors.
- Hitting streaks: Billy Burns 1 game, Coco Crisp 1, Josh Donaldson 2, Nate Freiman 1, Brandon Moss 2, Derek Norris 1, Josh Reddick 1, Eric Sogard 1
First pitch coming up at 1:10 PM. Let's go A's!