The Athletics will try to climb above the .500 mark for the first time since the opening weekend of the season when they host the Chicago White Sox on Saturday afternoon in West Sacramento, Calif.
The A’s started the season with two wins in three games at Seattle but dipped below .500 after that with a four-game losing streak. After falling to 6-10 with an 8-0 shutout loss to the New York Mets on April 13, the Athletics have rebounded to win seven of 10 games and will bring a three-game winning streak, tied for their longest of the season, into the contest on Saturday.
Left-hander Jeffrey Springs (3-2, 5.64 ERA) is scheduled to start for the A’s and will be opposed by right-hander Jonathan Cannon (0-3, 4.81).
Cannon is 1-0 with an 0.87 ERA in two career starts against the Athletics while Springs is 1-0 with a 3.86 ERA in three career appearances against the White Sox, winning his only start on April 15 in a 12-3 victory at Chicago.
The A’s rallied from a 3-1 deficit in the sixth inning to pull out a 6-5 victory in Friday night’s series opener as Jacob Wilson went 3-for-4 with a home run and two RBIs and Tyler Soderstrom went 3-for-4 with an RBI and run scored.
“It’s always good to get to .500; there’s no question,” A’s manager Mark Kotsay said of his team’s 13-13 mark. “That’s what we’re playing the season for. We’re playing to win games and give ourselves an opportunity to be in this race.”
The Athletics trail the first-place Texas Rangers by just two games in the tight American League West.
“It’s early, but there are good signs,” Kotsay said. “We know where we want to be. We want to win this season, and that’s our focus right now.”
Wilson, who had a two-out, walk-off single in the bottom of the ninth in a 4-3 come-from-behind win over the Texas Rangers on Thursday, followed that with another big game on Friday. Besides his big night at the plate, he made several standout fielding plays at shortstop.
“It was a great game all-around,” Kotsay said. “Guys grinded this one out. Getting down 3-1 with your ace (Luis Severino) on the mound, you saw a fight about this group that we’ve seen in the past, but it’s always good to see. … Jacob had a great night.”
Chicago, coming in off a 3-0 rain-shortened, seven-inning victory at Minnesota on Thursday, fell to 2-6 on its 10-game road trip with the loss on Friday.
The White Sox entered the ninth trailing 6-3 and having to face the Athletics’ hard-throwing closer, Mason Miller. But Chicago made things interesting when Lenyn Sosa led off with a single and Brooks Baldwin followed with his third home run of the season, a 381-foot drive down the right field line.
Baldwin’s homer marked the first two runs allowed by Miller in 10 games this season. Miller rebounded to get the next three batters out to record his eighth save in eight tries, but one of the outs, by pinch hitter Edgar Quero, was caught at the fence in right by Lawrence Butler.
“A lot of credit to our hitters for continuing to grind,” White Sox manager Will Venable said. “Continued to fight and put some good at-bats on (Miller).”
–Field Level Media
