Rise and shine everyone! We got an early one today as the Athletics wrap up their first road trip of the year. Toronto was not kind to us but Atlanta has been a bit better after yesterday’s first victory of the year. Another win today and we’ll also have our first series win of the season.
We got our Opening Day starter Luis Severino back on the mound for his second appearance of the year. His performance on Opening Night was solid as he pitched five full innings against the Blue Jays while only allowing two runs. The A’s would gladly take that again today against a Braves squad that is 3-2 to start their campaign.
Here’s how the starting lineup looks for the finale against the Braves:
With today being get away day for the club manager Mark Kotsay is giving a couple of his regulars the finale off. Catcher Shea Langeliers, who is tied for the league lead with four home runs already, gets breather as he’ll only DH today while Austin Wynns gets his catcher’s gear on. That means regular DH Brent Rooker will need to grab his outfielder’s glove and get ready to play the grass, taking over in right field for Lawrence Butler. who is just 1-for-12 to start the year.
No Nick Kurtz either today as Andy Ibanez gets the start at first base. We can likely expect to see Kurtz make a late-game appearance if the score is close so having his stick on the bench will come in handy if the A’s need a big hit.
And another day with no Jeff McNeil, who is also struggling to get going after collecting just one hit so far. This’ll be his second day off in a row so hopefully he’s not dealing with any sort of injury this early in the year. That means Darell Hernaiz gets his second start of the year at the keystone. He’s still looking for his first hit of the year after going 0-for-3 on Saturday. Maybe today’s the day for him.
The Braves meanwhile will be sending their own Opening Night starter to the mound in Chris Sale. He looked like the Chris Sale of old in his first start of the season, shutting the Kansas City Royals down for six innings and allowing just three hits. The A’s will be hoping to do more damage against the ace lefty.
And the Atlanta lineup:
First series win of the year? Sounds like a good way to end this East Coast road trip. Let’s go A’s!
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