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Last night's defeat, snatched straight from the jaws of victory, was jarring and a gut punch to an A's team that has been on a bit of a roll lately, with the best record in the major leagues post-All Star break. But despite the loss, which put the A's back at ten games below .500 at the 100-game mark, the A's have been playing the type of baseball that was sorely lacking for so long to start the season and now look poised to win just about every game they play. Time will soon tell whether or not the A's will be able to continue their success passed the trade deadline, as the makeup of the team is highly likely to be altered in the next week. Just today, Daniel Mengden and Matt McBride were optioned down to Nashville to make room for Max Muncy and J.B. Wendelken, the former highly likely to return some point this season, the latter less likely so.
Just like how the A's were winning last night until they weren't, Sonny Gray was finally starting to look like he was finding his former self until his last start, where he very suddenly showed off his bad form and surrendered seven runs in nine innings. Gray has historically pitched rather well in Arlington, despite its reputation for being a hitter's haven, and will be looking to both right his ship as well as continue his past success. Opposing Gray will be Nick Martinez, who has also had his fair share of struggles this season as he was relegated to the minor leagues for most of the season after starting at least twenty games each of the previous two seasons for the big league team and has pitched to an ERA of near 6.50 in his limited big league experience this season.
Lineups are below. First pitch is at 5:05.
** UPDATE **
While the A's and Rangers are still expected to play tonight, the start of the game will be delayed due to rain.
