AL West rivals will continue a three-game series on Saturday afternoon at Minute Maid Park with the Oakland Athletics visiting the Houston Astros. These teams will meet in the series opener late on Friday after the time of publishing. Oakland is having a miserable season at 30-60, while the Astros have a huge lead in the division at 58-30.
The Astros hold a 5-1 head-to-head advantage so far, and haven't lost the season series to Oakland since 2014.
Oakland, which has struggled mightily all season offensively, managed to plate a combined 22 runs across the first two games during a mid-week set in Texas, but will be unable to pick up the series win as it lost Wednesday's rubber match 5-2. The Athletics were blanked until the ninth inning, when Skye Bolt and Ramon Laureano both launched solo shots to at least prevent the shutout.
All-Star Paul Blackburn took the loss, allowing five runs on just three hits and four walks while striking out four across four innings. Seth Brown added a double, one of Oakland's four hits for the game.
“That first inning was uncharacteristic of Pauly with the walks,” said A’s manager Mark Kotsay via MLB.com. “In talking to Paul after that inning, he just couldn’t get comfortable with the baseball. He got more comfortable out there, and the results showe d after that first.”
The Athletics remain down a huge amount on the money line for the season with their poor overall record while going 42-48 on the run line. Overs are 36-47-7 for Oakland, with seven of its last 10 games going under the betting total.
This is the second-worst offense in baseball at just 3.30 runs per game on a .603 OPS that is dead last. Oakland pitching has graded out at least slightly better with a 4.41 collective ERA including a mark of 4.30 from the bullpen.
Laureano has been Oakland's best hitter in 59 games when available with a .736 OPS, eight homers, nine stolen bases and 20 RBI. Sean Murphy is one of the top hitting catchers in baseball with a .716 OPS, nine homers and 36 driven in.
Jared Koenig will return from AAA for the fifth start of his rookie season, having gone 1-2 with a 6.38 ERA across 18.1 innings thus far. The 28-year-old last pitched in the Majors on June 25, allowing three runs on five hits and three walks while striking out four across 4.2 innings against the Kansas City Royals.
Infielders Jonah Bride and Jed Lowrie are both dealing with shoulder problems. The rotation is down Daulton Jeffries (thoracic outlet syndrome) and Brent Honeywell Jr. (stress reaction in elbow). Relievers Deolis Garcia (Tommy John surgery) and Dany Jimenez (strained shoulder) are sidelined.