Paul Blackburn, A’s look to end road trip on a good note

It has been a tough road trip for the Oakland Athletics who suffered a pair of walk-off losses over the weekend in Washington and then let another late lead slip away Monday in St. Louis. The A’s have dropped all five of the games on the trip and will try to snap that skid Wednesday afternoon when they wrap up a three-game series against the Cardinals. Paul Blackburn will get the start for Oakland while young lefty Matthew Liberatore will go for St. Louis.

Blackburn will make his 13th start of the season Wednesday and will be looking to bounce back from a tough start. He allowed eight hits, four walks and four runs over 5 2/3 innings against the Nationals over the weekend. The four walks tied a season-high and he has allowed seven over his last 11 2/3 innings.

Liberatore has been in and out of the Cardinals rotation this season, but should get an extended run down the stretch after the trades of Jack Flaherty and Jordan Montgomery at the deadline. He made the most of his opportunity in his last start where he allowed two hits and struck out seven while throwing eight scoreless innings against the Tampa Bay Rays. He threw a season-high 101 pitches in that start and it was the first time this season that he didn't walk at least one batter.

The A’s fell behind early in Tuesday’s loss and were never able to make up much ground. They managed just six hits in the game and were 0-for-5 with runners in scoring position. Esteury Ruiz had a hit in two plate appearances and stole his league leading 47th base of the season. Rookie Lawrence Butler connected on his first major league home run, a two-run shot in the seventh, that accounted for all of the A’s runs on the evening.

Game Info

Game Date/Time: Wednesday, August 16, 3:45 p.m. PDT

Location: Busch Stadium, St. Louis, Missouri

TV: NBCSCA

Streaming: MLB.tv

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