JP Sears, Athletics look to snap skid against the Rockies

The Oakland Athletics will head back out on the road Friday where they will begin a six-game road trip with a three-game series against the Colorado Rockies. Left-hander JP Sears will get the start for Oakland while the Rockies will go with lefty Kyle Freeland.

Sears will make his 21st start of the season for the A’s in Friday’s opener and will be looking to bounce back after a rough outing last time out. Sears was tagged for eight hits and five runs, including three homers, over 5 2/3 innings in his last start against the Astros. While he has been arguably Oakland’s most consistent starter, Sears has allowed 24 home runs which is the second most in the majors behind only Chicago’s Lance Lynn.

Freeland comes into the game with a 4.72 ERA and a 5.20 FIP in 103 innings across 19 starts. He allowed seven hits and failed to record a strikeout, but allowed just one run over 6 1/3 innings in his last start against the Giants. Freeland has faced the A’s twice in his career and has allowed five runs in 11 innings.

The A’s come into Friday’s game having lost three-straight, including an 8-3 setback to the Giants Wednesday. Tony Kemp finished that game with three of Oakland’s eight hits. After struggling for the first two months of the season and is hitting .282/.368/.410 with a 126 wRC+ since the start of June. He has certainly raised his stock heading into Tuesday’s trade deadline.

Game Info

Game Date/Time: Friday, July 28, 5:40 p.m. PDT

Location: Coors Field, Denver, Colorado

TV: NBCSCA

Streaming: MLB.tv

Radio: A’s Cast, Bloomberg 960 AM / 103.7 HD2