The Oakland Athletics have seen their season go into a tailspin in recent weeks, entering their home series with the Houston Astros on a 4-14 rough patch and will look to get things clicking with a win on Saturday.
Oakland Athletics (-142, 9) vs. Houston Astros
JP Sears gets the start on the mound for Oakland, who for the season has a 4.31 ERA with 6.5 strikeouts and 1.3 home runs allowed per nine innings, but has pitched better of late with a 3.40 ERA and 4.09 fielding independent in his past eight starts with 7.4 strikeouts and 2.6 walks per nine innings in that span.
Backing up Sears is an offense that entered the series 27th in the league in scoring with 3.8 runs per game, this despite scoring eight runs or more in five of their last 19 games entering the series.
The Athletics offense in their first 21 games in May scored four runs or fewer in 14 of them and in their series against the Astros earlier this month, scored two runs or fewer in all four games in that series.
Astros starting pitcher Spencer Arrighetti will look to keep the Oakland bats at bay, entering with advanced numbers that show he’s pitched far better than his 7.16 ERA would suggest.
Arrighetti has a 4.16 fielding independent with 9.9 strikeouts per nine innings while allowing just 1.1 home runs per nine innings. The first time Arrighetti faced Oakland, he surrendered two runs in five innings with five strikeouts while the bullpen delivered four scoreless innings.
The Astros bullpen is 13th among MLB teams in bullpen ERA this season but leading the American League in bullpen ERA the past 30 days entering Friday’s series opener while the Athletics are eighth in the league in bullpen ERA this season.
While the Astros entered this series third in the American League in runs per game at home, their 4.1 runs per game on the road is ninth among American League teams.
With the Astros offense being less explosive on the road but their pitching grounding into form, Saturday’s clash in the Bay Area sets up for an unexpected pitchers duel.
The Play: Astros vs. Athletics Under 9
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