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Game Thread #19: Oakland A’s at Los Angeles Angels

Avoid the sweep!

By Alex Hall

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Houston Astros v Oakland Athletics Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images

After winning nine games in a row, the Oakland A’s now need to avoid starting a losing streak.

The A’s snapped their positive run by dropping the first two contests in a three-game series in Anaheim against the Los Angeles Angels. Their bullpen failed them in a slugfest in the opener on Tuesday, and then they got blanked by Dylan Bundy on Wednesday.

Now Oakland has the chance to salvage a victory in the finale. They’ll turn to one of their hottest starting pitchers, Chris Bassitt, who has allowed just two total runs in his three starts so far. Last year he faced the Angels twice and beat them both times, although he got a lot of help from his offense while allowing seven runs in 10+ innings.

The Halos hand the ball to Griffin Canning, who had a nice partial rookie season in 2019 including a trio of six-inning efforts against the A’s (two of them quality). He has one quality start so far this summer, but last time out he walked six batters against the Rangers and took the loss.

Ramon Laureano remains in the lineup for Oakland, as his impending six-game suspension remains on hold in the appeals process. He homered twice off Canning last year, and Marcus Semien, Matt Olson, and Mark Canha all added dingers against the right-hander as well. After putting up nine runs in the first game of this series and then none in the second, they could use some of that power to get themselves back in the scoring column.

First pitch is 1:10 p.m., with the following options to watch or listen:

  • TV: NBC Sports California
  • Radio: 960 AM
  • Online video stream: fuboTV
  • Online audio stream: iHeartRadio

A’s lineup (away)

  1. SS Marcus Semien (R)
  2. CF Ramon Laureano (R)
  3. 1B Matt Olson (L)
  4. 3B Matt Chapman (R)
  5. DH Mark Canha (R)
  6. LF Robbie Grossman (S)
  7. RF Stephen Piscotty (R)
  8. 2B Tony Kemp (L)
  9. C Sean Murphy (R)
  • Chris Bassitt, RHP

Piscotty is back in there, with Khris Davis returning to the bench. Murphy gets his turn behind the plate.

Angels lineup (home)

  1. SS David Fletcher (R)
  2. 2B Tommy La Stella (L)
  3. CF Mike Trout (R)
  4. 3B Anthony Rendon (R)
  5. DH Shohei Ohtani (L)
  6. 1B Albert Pujols (R)
  7. C Jason Castro (L)
  8. RF Jo Adell (R)
  9. LF Brian Goodwin (L)
  • Griffin Canning, RHP

Exactly the same, except Adell taps back in for Justin Upton.

Let’s Go Oakland!

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