AL West rivals will finish up a three-game series on Thursday afternoon with the Oakland Athletics taking on the Texas Rangers at Globe Life Field. With the series tied at one win apiece so far, the teams will meet again late on Wednesday after the time of publishing. Oakland is in last place at 42-75, while the Rangers are also out of contention at 52-64.
The Rangers hold a 9-6 head-to-head advantage so far in 2022 as they look for their first season series win over Oakland since 2016.
With veterans like Stephen Piscotty and Elvis Andrus getting released this week, some young players are on the way up in Oakland, with top prospect Shea Langeliers making his MLB debut in Tuesday's win over Texas. Seth Brown and Jonah Bride each provided early RBI singles before Sean Murphy went deep in the third, and Andrus provided a late two-run homer in what would be his last game with the team.
Recent acquisition JP Sears had the best outing of his young career with five scoreless innings, allowing four hits and three walks while striking out two. Langeliers doubled and scored in his first career game.
“As far as the decision to bring up Shea, it was a matter of when and not if we're going to bring him up,” A’s general manager David Forst said via MLB.com. “I mean, he has excelled in every way since starting the season in Las Vegas. We knew we wanted to get him here at some point this year, and this was the time where we felt like we could get him at-bats.”
The Athletics are down a huge amount on the money line with their poor overall record while going 56-61 on the run line for the season. Overs are 48-62-7 for Oakland, with three of its last four games going under the betting total.
This is a horrendous Oakland offense at 3.36 runs per game on a .623 team OPS, both the second-worst marks in baseball. Oakland pitching is also in the bottom 10 with a 4.28 combined ERA including a mark of 4.09 from the bullpen.
Murphy is one of baseball's better catchers with 3.4 WAR on a .753 OPS, 14 homers and 49 driven in. Brown has also provided some pop with a .736 OPS. 17 homers, eight steals and 49 driven in.
Rookie Zach Logue is set to make his 10th appearance and ninth start of his career, hoping to turn around a tough de but campaign as he's 3-6 with a 5.49 ERA through 41 innings. The 26-year-old was roughed up by the Houston Astros last Saturday, allowing six runs on eight hits and two walks while striking out two in 5.1 innings.
Outfielder Ramon Laureano hit the IL on Tuesday with a strained oblique, a big blow as he's one of Oakland's best players. The rotation is down Paul Blackburn (finger inflammation), Brent Honeywell Jr. (stress reaction in elbow) and Daulton Jeffries (thoracic outlet syndrome). Reliever Deolis Garcia is recovering from Tommy John surgery.