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I was trying to think about what to write about today's match-up against the Red Sox and my mind just keeps going back to our series against them last year. If you can't remember, it's probably because your brain blocked it out to spare you the pain. Seriously, don't look up the scores. They're legitimately painful. So just statistically speaking, we're unlikely to perform that poorly against them this year...right?
Sonny Gray is our starting pitcher for tonight. It's his fourth start of the season. He's been alright so far, showing a lot of what we saw last year: minimal control of his curveball leading to a lack of deception, with decent outings until things occasionally go explosively wrong all at once. The Red Sox have an extremely talented lineup, so this will undoubtedly be Sonny's toughest test so far this season.
Hector Velazquez is making his Major League debut tonight for the Red Sox. Congratulations, Hector! Velazquez rose from the Mexican league and has put up some impressive numbers (1.55 ERA) in a handful of starts at AAA.
I'm sure our Rajai Davis, Matt Joyce 1-2 will really put the fear into the rookie. On the bright side, we managed to sneak Chad Pinder into tonight's lineup.
Game time is 7:05 PT. Go A's!
