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The King holds court today as Chris Bassitt takes on Felix Hernandez in this mid-day rubber match.
Despite his lofty nickname, Felix has been less than kingly this month. He has a 8.18 ERA in August losing his past two starts. On August 15, King Felix was shelled for 10 earned runs in just 2.1 innings. In comparison he recovered in his last start, but still took the loss giving up four earned in 6.0 IP. He last faced Oakland on July 4 where he also took the loss, but he gave up only 2 earned that day as Kendall Graveman threw 7.0 shutout innings for the win.
Today Felix faces another young Oakland upstart in Chris Bassitt looking for only his second win this season despite an ERA under three. Chris has an August ERA of 1.59 in four starts, but has received just one win from that stellar performance. In his 14 starts this season he has received an average of just 2.6 runs in support including five instances of 1 run or less. At first blush, facing King Felix today looks like another hard luck game for Chris, but the King is wounded, so this also presents the opportunity for Chris to beat one of the best.
Sadly, Danny Valencia will not be in the lineup today helping Chris overthrow the King. We do get a dose of Mark Canha, though, and in a tight game sometimes all it takes is one swing of the bat to topple a King.
