Welcome to Monday A’s fans!
The Athletics’ Las Vegas Series has officially ended. The team went 4-2 in six games last week, winning two of three against both the Milwaukee Brewers and Colorado Rockies. The A’s let the first game against Milwaukee slip away in a 15–14 loss, so the team could have easily gone 5–1. oh ok. We’ll take what we’ve got. The team is still on top thanks to a successful stint in Las Vegas, a sneak peak at the A’s future home. Will the still-under-construction ballpark be as hitter-friendly as the Las Vegas ballpark?
Now the team is back in Sacramento and continuing the huge “homestand” the A’s got to enjoy this month. After hosting the two teams for six games under the Vegas sun, the teams will now play host once again but now in the heat of Sacramento. The team is now also set to play its fourth game in four days, and we are right in the middle of 32 games in 34 days. Tough expansion of the schedule but at least lots of home games.
We start off Sacramento’s stand with three tonight against the Pittsburgh Pirates. The Pirates have been at the bottom for a long time and have made the postseason only three times in the last 34 years (2013–2015). The 2015 season was also their last winning campaign, and they have finished fourth or fifth in the NL Central since 2017. Things haven’t been easy for Pirates fans, but they finally have a fun team to watch this year.
The Pirates enter this series with an identical record of 36–36, which is fourth in the tough NL Central, but good enough to remain in the playoff race. They are in a bit of a slump right now, having lost seven of their last ten competitions. The team’s strength came from their young pitching, which has been among the best in the entire game. Led by ace pitcher Paul Skenes, the Bucs have loaded up on options and are fourth in the National League in starting ERA. However good their pitching has been, their offense has been inconsistent. Although they have several hitters who can make money off of any good pitcher, they have yet to really put it all together at the same time. They are a young team and rookies like star shortstop Connor Griffin may step up as the season progresses, but he may be a season or two away from really making his mark. Athletics fans will get a chance to get a closer look at a team that is in incredibly similar shape to the A’s right now.
Looking at the pitching matchups, promising right-hander Jared Jones will face off against fellow right-hander JT Ginn tonight. Jones was one of Pittsburgh’s top pitching prospects a few years ago, but he missed all of last season and the early part of this year due to an elbow injury. He has recently been activated from the IL and has made three starts for the big league team. He looked rough in his first start, which is to be expected, but he’s looked better over the next two games, so he’ll be looking for some momentum in this match. Ginn, on the other hand, is coming off one of his worst starts of the year as he gave up five runs to the Brewers, so he’ll be looking for a better performance tonight.
On Tuesday there will be a battle between another well-known right wing duo of Mitch Keller and Jack Perkins. Keller, now in his eighth big league season, has always been high-potential but has not been able to put it together at the big league level on any kind of consistent basis. Nevertheless, he has been a useful mid-rotation arm for the Pirates over the past five seasons. He had a solid campaign until recently. He has been hit hard in his last three starts, causing his ERA to rise from 3.64 to 5.14, making his season look worse than ever. The veteran will be opposed by rookie Perkins, who will make his third start since joining the starting rotation. There were some flashes in his first two assignments, but also a lot left undone, so the A’s will be hoping to see some development and progress from their young righty in this outing.
And wrapping things up on Thursday evening will be another true-to-life duel between Braxton Ashcraft and the returning Aaron Civale. Ashcraft is another well-known wing in the Pittsburgh system and is set to become a full-time starter for the first time. The young right-hander had a stellar 3.30 ERA in 14 starts as the second-rounder is looking like a hit for the Bucs. He is believed to be opposed by Aaron Civale, who will be activated from the injured list prior to this game. Sewell has been on the shelf for a little less than three weeks due to right shoulder tendinitis. Before that he allowed 12 runs in back-to-back starts and increased his season ERA from 2.70 to 4.20, so like Keller his bottom-line stats don’t give a complete picture of how well he has performed this season. He made a rehab start for the Aviators and looked as sharp as can be: 4 1/3 innings pitched, no hits, no walks, seven punchouts. Civley looks ready to be active and get back to pitching like he has for most of the season.
First pitch is tonight at 6:40. Have a great start to the week for all of you.
Leaving Las Vegas would definitely help the pitching staff:
This weekend we did a cycle down in the Miners!
On the re-emergence of Jack Gelof:
Eh, could still be better though:
In case you missed the recent roster shuffle:
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