Ken Waldichuk, A’s look to even series with Toronto

The Oakland Athletics will try to get back into the win column Tuesday when they continue a three-game series against the Toronto Blue Jays. The A’s saw their three-game winning streak come to an end Monday with a 6-5 loss in 10 innings despite a pair of homers by rookie outfielder Lawrence Butler. Ken Waldichuk will get the start for Oakland Tuesday while the Blue Jays will go with veteran righty Chris Bassitt.

Waldichuk was pushed back a day to make room for the return of Luis Medina from the injured list Monday. The 2023 season has been mostly a struggle for Waldichuk who will bring a 5.92 ERA and a 5.52 FIP into Tuesday’s start. He has had better results of late though, allowing two runs or less in four of his last five starts. Waldichuk allowed one hit and one run in his last start against the Mariners, but exited after the fourth inning after issuing five walks which ran up his pitch count.

Bassitt has put together another solid campaign in his age-34 season. He will make his 29th start of the season Tuesday and has a 3.81 ERA and a 4.56 FIP in 165 1/3 innings. Bassitt is coming off one of his best outings of the season where he blanked the Nationals for eight innings while allowing three hits. He faced Oakland back in June and allowed four runs over five innings.

The A’s banged out four home runs in Monday’s series opener. Butler’s two-run shot in the 10th brought Oakland to within a run of the lead. Ryan Noda and Jordan Diaz also went deep. Noda extended his hitting streak to five-straight games and is hitting .304/.429/.543 with a 176 wRC+ since returning from the injured list on August 21. Esteury Ruiz didn’t start Monday’s game, but entered late as a pinch runner and stole his 55th and 56th bases of the season.

Game Info

Game Date/Time: Tuesday, September 5, 6:40 p.m. PDT

Location: Oakland Coliseum, Oakland, California

TV: NBCSCA

Streaming: MLB.tv

Radio: A’s Cast, Bloomberg 960 AM / 103.7 HD2, KIQI 1010