Back home against a division rival
The team is currently enjoying a much-needed off day after wrapping up their road trip yesterday afternoon. The team went 4-2 on the trip and are hovering around the .500 mark as they sit at 10-12 so far this season. The long season will march on tomorrow evening as the Texas Rangers come to town for the first time in 2025.
Texas is off to a solid start this season as they sit at 13-9 through 22 games. They’ve gotten to where they are on the strength of their pitching so far. Their staff ranks second in the American League with a 3.23 ERA, behind only the Detroit Tigers. The A’s will get a bit lucky during this series as they’ll avoid Texas’ two hottest pitchers in Nathan Eovaldi and Tyler Mahle.
Texas’ lineup on the other hand, even with studs up and down the starting nine, has gotten out of the gates slow. They’ve collectively hit just .220 as a group, which ranks 25th in all of baseball. Star players Adolis Garcia and Marcus Semien have struggled immensely here in the early going, hitting just .216 and .141 respectively. They can still hit the long ball as they’re middle of the pack in home runs with 22 as a team. The pitchers for the A’s will need to be careful with 1B/DH Josh Smith and third baseman Josh Jung as they’ve kept the Rangers offense going while Garcia and Semien have struggled.
The A’s will send right-hander Osvaldo Bido to the mound to start the home stand. The hype during Spring Training regarding the 29-year old wasn’t misplaced as he’s sporting a nifty 2.61 ERA over his first four starts. There might be a little bit of luck there as he’s allowed 30 baserunners in that time while only collecting 14 strikeouts but if it works it works. Bido will be opposed by veteran left-hander Patrick Corbin, who only just joined Texas halfway through camp on a minor league deal after the injury bug bit a few Rangers starting pitchers. Their small investment has paid off so far as he’s helped shore up the Rangers pitching staff. He’ll be making his third start for Texas and will be looking to secure his spot in the rotation with another good outing. The A’s will try to throw a wrench in those plans.
The second game will see lefty JP Sears make his fifth start of the season. Into his third full season the Athletics rotation Sears has given the squad three quality starts in four outings so far and he sports a pretty 3.31 ERA in 23 innings so far. That’s the sort of progress the organization was hoping to see from the 29-year old and he’s delivering.
Texas will counter Sears on Wednesday night with former 1st-round pick Kumar Rocker. The Vanderbilt alum made his major league debut last season and looked good over three starts to end the year. That plus a solid spring earned him a season-opening spot in the Texas starting rotation but things haven’t gone smoothly for the 25-year old Rocker. He’s posted a below-average 6.38 ERA over four starts. A lot of that damage came in his first outing when he allowed six runs in just three innings of work. He’s coming off his best start of the year when he pitched seven innings of 3-run ball against the Los Angeles Angels while racking up eight strikeouts and no walks. Which Rocker will the A’s see on Wednesday night?
And finally the A’s will turn from JP to JT for the series finale. Finishing off the Rangers series on Thursday evening will be rookie righty JT Ginn. He’s only made just two starts so far for the A’s after taking over the fifth starter’s spot from fellow prospect Joey Estes. His first outing was terrific while his second was a bit more up-and-down. He’s looked a lot better than Estes did at the beginning of the year and he’ll be hoping to continue building off those first two starts against Rangers starting pitcher Jacob deGrom. The future Hall-of-Famer is finally back and healthy for the Rangers after injuries cost him a ton of time over the past few seasons. He hasn’t been as dominant as he was in his prime but deGrom is still an ace-level pitcher. Ginn and the A’s will have a real challenge Thursday evening in the finale.
Texas comes to town after losing two of three to the defending champion Dodgers. They have gone just 5-5 over their last ten games. A sweep of their division rival would put the A’s and Rangers on even footing and get the Green & Gold back in the hunt.