:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/60491869/usa-today-9252598.0.0.0.jpg)
The A's will have the chance to win the series against the defending world champion Royals today. After, to be honest, a pretty humiliating sweep to the Angels earlier this week, it would be pretty neat to put the A's back at 2-2 on the year in terms of series victories. And to do it against a pretty good team would do wonders for morale.
To do it, they might need to hit. You know, just a little bit.
The A's would absolutely like to carry over some of the offensive momentum that rocketed them to a 5-3 victory, led by homers from Stephen Vogt and Josh Reddick.
And yes, the term "rocketed" is way too emphatic for a team that pulled out all the stops in order to score five runs. But this offense has been like pulling teeth, and any time they score more than four runs in a game, it's a minor miracle.
Kris Medlen (1-0, 3.60) vs. Chris Bassitt (0-0, 2.92) isn't exactly marquee, but it's a sneaky-fun pitcher matchup. Bassitt is well known by A's fans at this point for being a continually promising mid-rotation piece, and he is (when he's on) very fun to watch. Meanwhile, Medlen's in the middle of a comeback after his second Tommy John surgery. That came with middling results last year (4.01 ERA), but the stuff's still good and he struck out 7 in 5 IP in his last start.
Here are the lineups:
