JP Sears, A’s set to begin a three-game series against the Cardinals

Coming off of a soul crushing defeat Sunday, the Oakland Athletics will try to pick up the pieces when they continue their road trip Monday against the St. Louis Cardinals. The A’s were swept to start the trip in Washington, but entered the ninth inning of Sunday’s game with a 7-2 lead before the Nationals plated six runs for a walk-off win. JP Sears will get the start for the A’s Monday while the Cardinals will go with righty Miles Mikolas.

Sears will make his 24th start of the season in Monday’s opener. He will be looking to bounce back from a rough outing last time out where he allowed nine hits and four runs in just four innings against the Texas Rangers. Sears walked one in that outing and has issued just six free passes over his last 19 2/3 innings.

It has been a disappointing season for the Cardinals who came in hoping to compete in the NL Central, but instead are 52-66 and in last place. St. Louis has gone 5-5 over their last 10 and are 25-33 at Busch Stadium this season.

Mikolas is essentially the last man standing in the rotation for the Cardinals and has pitched well of late. He allowed eight hits, but just two runs over seven innings in his last start against the Rays.

Sunday’s loss spoiled a breakout performance by Oakland rookie Zack Gelof who homered twice while recording his first four-hit game of his young career. Gelof now has a .978 OPS and has been worth 1.3 fWAR in just 25 games. Seth Brown also homered and drove in four runs in the loss. Lawrence Butler made his second straight start in center field over Esteury Ruiz and doubled in four plate appearances.

Game Info

Game Date/Time: Monday, August 14, 7:45 p.m. ET

Location: Busch Stadium, St. Louis, Missouri

TV: NBCSCA, MLB Network

Streaming: MLB.tv

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