Photo credit: @Athletics
By Jerry Feitelberg
The Oakland A’s (4-7) start inter-league play Tuesday night against the defending National League champion Los Angeles Dodgers. The Dodgers, winners of the NL West division the past five seasons, have started slowly as they are just 3-6.
The Dodgers have played six games with the SF Giants and won three of them. They went to Phoenix to play the D-Backs for three, and they were swept. The Dodgers will send two left-handed pitchers to face the A’s in the two-game series starting Tuesday night. Hyun-Jin Rya is 0-0, and his ERA is 7.36. The Dodgers have a prospect ready in the minors and Rya will need a strong start to maintain his position in the rotation. On Wednesday, Alex Wood will pitch. Wood was pushed back as he was ill due to a bout of food poisoning. Wood is 0-1 with an ERA of 1.93.
The Dodgers’ position players are struggling to get going so far this young season. The infielders are Cody Bellinger at first, Chase Utley at second, Corey Seager at short, and Logan Forsythe at third in place of the injured Justin Turner. The catching chores are handled by Yasmani Grandal and Austin Barnes. Yasiel Puig patrols right field for LA, Joc Pederson will be in left, and Chris Taylor is the centerfielder. Matt Kemp and Kiki Hernandez will also play in the outfield depending on whoever is the opposing pitcher.
Oakland will send Sean Manaea out to pitch the first game of the series. Manaea has been a bright spot in the A’s rotation. He went 7 2/3rd innings in his first outing and eight innings against the Texas Rangers last week. Manaea’s record is 1-1, but he has a minuscule ERA of just 1.15 and has 11 strikeouts to his credit so far. On Wednesday, righty Daniel Mengden will make his third start. The Dodgers have never seen Mengden’s quirky motion, and that might help him baffle the Dodger hitters. Mengden needs to go at least six innings if he wants to keep his spot in the rotation. Mengden is 0-2, and his ERA is 6.55. The A’s have Trevor Cahill ready to return, and lefty Brett Anderson might be called up sooner than expected if Mengden can’t do the job.
The A’s hitters are coming around. They lost two of the three games they played against the Angels. The hitters did well Friday as they scored nine times but the bullpen was not up to the task. They won on Saturday but were spellbound by the sensational Shohei Ohtani who held them to just one hit on Sunday. The versatile Chad Pinder will not be available as he is on the 10-day disabled list. Centerfielder Boog Powell hurt his ankle, and he too is on the 10-day DL. Mark Canha and Franklin Barreto were recalled from Nashville.
After the two-game set with the Dodgers, the A’s are off on Thursday. They head to Seattle to face the Mariners for three games over the weekend then return home to face the Chicago White Sox and the Boston Red Sox.
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