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Game Thread #29: Oakland A’s vs. Los Angeles Angels

Last Angels game of 2020

By Alex Hall

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Oakland Athletics v Arizona Diamondbacks Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images

The Oakland A’s and Los Angeles Angels are down to their final regular season meeting of 2020. The A’s have won five so far, while the Halos picked up their fourth on Saturday. This finale will be the difference between an overall split, or an Oakland victory in the season series.

The A’s will have to earn that final win, though, as they’ll face starter Dylan Bundy. The right-hander has dominated them in two matchups, for a total of just one run over 13.2 innings, with 17 strikeouts to one walk and seven hits. In three starts against the rest of the league (actually just the Mariners and Giants), he’s allowed eight runs in 19 innings (4.00 ERA), with 21 strikeouts to six walks — still good, but not as untouchable.

Oakland counters with Frankie Montas. Their presumed ace missed a start to back tightness and then got rocked in his return, serving up nine runs while recording only five outs against the Diamondbacks. That skyrocketed his ERA by more than three runs, up to 4.74, and will noticably skew his stats even when the full 60-game season is over. He’ll look for redemption Sunday, albeit against a different opponent.

Another important factor in this game is the air quality due to the local wildfires. One game this week was already under consideration for cancellation, though it didn’t end up reaching that point, and this weekend the smoke has begun to increase again. Hopefully the players will be able to mask up and get a game in without being affected, but if not then hopefully they won’t push it to do so.

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 (home)

  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)
  • Frankie Montas, RHP

Same as yesterday, except Murphy catching.

Angels lineup (away)

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

Same as yesterday, except Simmons back in there (and Fletcher back to 2B).

Let’s Go Oakland!

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