Pirates vs. A’s game thread

A win today means a second straight series victory

Good afternoon and happy Tuesday, A’s Nation.

After yesterdays 5-1 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates, the A’s and Bucco’s will line it up and do it again tonight in just over a hour as Alex Wood and Mitch Keller are set to square off.

Wood has been far from an Opening Day starter, but he’s coming off his best start of the season last week against the New York Yankees. Wood worked 5.2 innings allowing eight hits and one run while maneuvering around Yankees rallies seemingly ever inning. He got the win, however — his first as an Athletic.

Below is the lineup Mark Kotsay will roll out tonight. Tyler Nevin gets another starting nod after smacking his second home run of the season yesterday. He’s hitting .340 through 53 at-bats in his last 15 games and has been a great story for the third-place A’s through a month of play.

Keller will eat up some innings for the Pirates, but recent history would also prove that he’s more than hittable.

Keller has gone at least five innings in each of six starts this season, but he allows an average of over three runs a game in those starts — good for a 5.14 season ERA. He will strike guys out; he has 32 punch outs across his six starts. He’ll also throw a lot of pitches and a lot of balls even though the walk numbers aren’t off the charts.

Here’s the lineup that Pirates manager Derek Shelton will counter with. Connor Joe, Brian Reynolds and Michael A. Taylor all enter Tuesday with significant experience and success off of Wood. The three have 15, 17 and 18 at-bats off the veteran with a .467, .471 and .444 average respectively. Andrew McCutchen also has 37 (!) career appearances against Wood but is batting just .189.

A win today will make it three in a row for the A’s, and two straight series victories after taking ²⁄₃ this past weekend in Baltimore. The Pirates also enter today 3-7 in their last 10 games, so I for one feel great about the A’s chances. I guess we will find out soon.

See you then AN!