Spring Training Game Thread #18: Athletics at Indians

The A’s of 2016 were doomed to fail for a litany of reasons, but the most critical of those reasons came in a vicious 1-2 punch of injuries to key players and the lack of quality depth in the minor leagues to overcome those injuries. Chris Bassitt and Felix Doubront going down with injuries that would require Tommy John surgery, ending their seasons before they even had a chance to start, evaporated the A’s semi-capable pitching depth and paved the way to seeing a whole-lot of Eric Surkamp and unseasoned youngsters make starts early and often in the ill-fated campaign. The embarrassing losses and sustained frustration from poor play clearly weighed heavily on the egos of the team and fans alike, but some A’s were able to take advantage of the otherwise dire situation and run with it.

Cue Andrew Triggs, who had signed with the A’s around the start of Spring Training as a non-prospect who had gotten good results in the minor leagues, but wasn’t necessarily believed to be able to translate those good results to the show. Due to the A’s constant need to dip heavily into their bullpen as their starters’ continued to fail left and right, Triggs’ first experiences with the team involved a constant shuttling back and forth between Nashville and Oakland while being forced into a mop-up role, a role that he did not have great success with. At the very least, his long mop-up outings proved to the A’s brass that Triggs was capable of pitching multiple innings, and as the season started to wind down, Triggs was finally given the opportunity to start for the A’s. And he did not disappoint.

So, following the injuries of Daniel Mengden and Sonny Gray, Triggs is looking to take advantage of the misfortune of others yet again, as he continues his Spring Training bid for a spot in the starting five. Today he will be taking on the Cleveland Indians.

Starting Lineups are below. First pitch is at 1:05.

For the A’s: 1- R Davis CF 2- Barreto 2B 3- Vogt C 4- Healy 1B 5- Plouffe 3B 6- Canha RF 7- Olson DH 8- Rosales SS 9- Decker CF SP- Triggs

For the Indians: 1- Gomes DH 2- Jackson CF 3- Chisenhall RF 4- Encarnacion 1B 5- Almonte LF 6- Kratz C 7- Shaffer 3B 8- Martinez 2B 9- Stamets SS SP- McAllister