Ready for a brand new month and a brand new series? The team finished the month of April with a 17-14 record, and now thankfully the A’s don’t have to go anywhere as they swap out their opponents from the Royals to the Guardians, their second straight AL Central to visit Sacramento. Old friend Stephen Vogt has lead his squad to an even 16-16 record, which is good enough for a tie in their division. Should be a competitive series between two teams in first place. Three games this weekend, let’s go for the win.
Kicking things off for the good guys tonight will be right-hander J.T. Ginn. Since joining the rotation the 26-year-old has done nothing but impress as he’s solidified the backend of the rotation. In four starts this year Ginn has a 2.50 ERA. The strikeouts (15) could be higher but he’s also not hurting himself with free passes (7). He’ll hope to keep up his hot streak this evening against a Guardians lineup that as a team is in the bottom third in most statistical categories across the league. An excellent matchup for Ginn as long as he’s careful pitching to Cleveland leader Jose Ramirez.
The Athletics’ lineup for the first game of this weekend series looks like this:
The team is surprisingly with catcher Shea Langeliers tonight, though he remains on baby watch as his wife should be due any minute now. If he leaves mid-game, now you know why.
He’ll be slotted between leadoff man Jacob Wilson and the big stick in Nick Kurtz, with Brent Rooker back in the lineup in his usual DH spot. This is more of the type of the top of the order that fans envisioned coming into the season.
Elsewhere in the A’s starting lineup Darell Hernaiz draws another start at the hot corner and also remains in the five-hole after his three-hit performance yesterday. The team also welcomes back left fielder Tyler Soderstrom after a two-game absence due to what the team called “whiplash”. Whatever it was it’s good to get his left-handed bat back in the order.
Colby Thomas remains in the lineup in right field, and Zack Gelof is in there as well but lining up in center field instead of second base, which will be handled by Jeff McNeil after his off day yesterday. One noticable name missing from the batting order this evening is Carlos Cortes, who finished the month of April with a .400 batting average. But with a southpaw on the opposing mound, tonight was as good as any to get the rookie outfielder a breather.
Speaking of lefties. That lineup will be facing Cleveland left-hander Joey Cantillo. The former 16th-round pick worked in both a starter’s role and a relief capacity last year to excellent results but has been a full-time member of the starting rotation this year. He’s taken well to his permanent transition to starting as he’ll bring a 2.97 ERA over six starts into tonight’s contest. This will be the first time that he’s ever faced the A’s so it’ll be a new experience for everyone on both sides of the ball in this one.
Cleveland’s starting nine shakes out like this:
The big name is obviously Ramirez, but we will also be getting our first close look at top prospect Travis Bazzana, who just got The Call to the big leagues a few days ago. If you’ll remember, the A’s had a big chance to get the first overall pick in the 2024 Draft but got stuck with the fourth overall pick instead. That pick? Your reigning AL ROTY Nick Kurtz. I’d say things worked out as well as hoped for the A’s, but now the first overall pick is in The Show and he’ll be facing Kurtz for the first time tonight. These two players’ futures will be compared to each other for a long, long time.
One hour to go until first pitch. Who’s ready for a Friday night win? Let’s go A’s!
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