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A promising early August stretch that saw the A's take three of four from the post-season caliber Astros, including a walk-off comeback rally last Sunday, has been duly erased. Losers of five straight, the story remains the same. Bitten by errors, untimely hitting, and bullpen failures, the A's have reverted to typical 2015 form on this two-city East Coast road trip.
Today the team looks to avoid a sixth straight loss in Baltimore having been walked-off the past two evenings. Taking the mound for the A's is Kendall Graveman, who has been effective in the second-half. His recent problem, however, is his inability to eat up innings. Since the All-Star Break, Kendall his pitched into the seventh inning only once. Prior to that he had six straight starts of at least seven innings. It's been an up-down-down season for Kendall, but promising all around as his ERA remains under four. An error-free day by the infield may see Kendall into the seventh.
For Baltimore it's Wei-Yin Chen who started against the A's on August 5. That day he went 5.0 IP giving up three earned in a no decision. Wei didn't factor in the decision of that game because, if you remember, Chris Davis hit a grand-slam in the tenth to win it for the Orioles. That guy likes to hit home runs against the A's. Unfortunately, if you look below you will see Chris Davis is in the lineup today.
