Game Thread #134: A’s at Tigers

The Oakland A’s and Detroit Tigers split the first two games of their series at Comerica Park the last two nights. Now they’ll play one more Thursday afternoon, or Thursday morning for A’s fans.

Oakland turns to Frankie Montas for the start. The right-hander is the hottest arm in the rotation, with quality efforts in eight of his last nine appearances. In each of his last two games he tossed seven shutout innings with only two hits allowed, against the Giants and Yankees. He faced Detroit once this year in April, and delivered six scoreless frames with seven strikeouts, and again only two hits allowed.

This is the first time the A’s will see Tigers starter Matt Manning, who made his MLB debut in June. The right-hander was the No. 9 overall pick in the 1st round of the 2016 draft, out of high school in Sacramento, and he was a Top 50 national prospect entering this season. In a dozen starts so far as a rookie, he carries a shaky 5.46 ERA (and 4.55 FIP) with too many hits and not enough strikeouts.

A’s lineup (away)

1. 2B Josh Harrison (R)
2. CF Starling Marte (R)
3. 1B Matt Olson (L)
4. 3B Matt Chapman (R)
5. DH Jed Lowrie (S)
6. RF Mark Canha (R)
7. LF Tony Kemp (L)
8. C Yan Gomes (R)
9. SS Elvis Andrus (R)

• RHP James Kaprielian

Gomes plays the day game after Murphy played catcher last night.

Tigers lineup (home)

1. CF Akil Baddoo (L)
2. 1B Jonathan Schoop (R)
3. LF Robbie Grossman (S)
4. DH Jeimer Candelario (S)
5. C Eric Haase (R)
6. 3B Harold Castro (L)
7. SS Niko Goodrum (S)
8. 2B Willi Castro (S)
9. RF Victor Reyes (S)

• RHP Matt Manning

Let’s go Oakland!

How To Watch

• Date: Thursday, September 2
• Time: 10:10 a.m. PT
• TV (local): NBC Sports California
• Radio: 960 AM (more listings here)
• Streaming (watch): NBCS website (with cable sub)
• Streaming (listen): A’s Cast