The Athletics are back home tonight, and the matchup brings a different kind of challenge after their recent run with the Dodgers. After dropping two of three to the two-time defending World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers, the A’s open a three-game set against the Miami Marlins, a club that has surged into the National League Wild Card race with an MLB-best 20-6 record in June.
Miami has done a lot of that damage on the strength of its pitching. The Marlins’ staff owns the 11th-best ERA in baseball, and while the A’s won’t have to deal with right-hander Max Meyer in this series, they still get a tough assignment over the weekend in Sandy Alcántara on Saturday and Eury Pérez on Sunday. The Marlins’ Dominican duo will be part of a pitching test the A’s can’t afford to waste.
That’s especially true because the Athletics’ own staff has been a problem all season. Only the Colorado Rockies have a higher ERA and have allowed more runs than the A’s pitching group.
Playing in a hitter-friendly minor league park for a second straight season is part of the equation, but it doesn’t explain everything. These are still major-league pitchers, and they need to find ways to adjust and keep games from getting away from them.
Right now, the A’s look like they can truly count on only two starters to consistently give them quality outings: J.T. Ginn and Gage Jump.
Ginn delivered Wednesday night, holding the Dodgers scoreless for six innings and helping the A’s avoid a sweep. Jump, meanwhile, had his first rough outing two nights earlier against a Dodgers lineup packed with star power, and he’ll get the chance to reset in Sunday’s homestand finale.
Before that, the A’s will hand the ball to Jack Perkins tonight and Aaron Civale tomorrow night. It’s a rotation setup that will be tested immediately by a Miami team that doesn’t beat you the same way the Dodgers do.
Offensively, the Marlins and A’s are built very differently. Miami leans on speed and leads the majors with 94 stolen bases. The A’s do have some quickness, with center fielder Henry Bolte standing out, but their offense is still driven mostly by the home run.
The Marlins won’t make this easy, but the A’s have a clean chance to turn the page on a rough June and start July with a series win. There would be no better way to celebrate the Fourth of July.
In Other News...
As Deadline Direction Suddenly Feels One Bad Week Away
The Athletics season has spent much of the summer living in the gray area between contender and cautionary tale, and that has made the next few weeks especially tricky. Injuries and uneven pitching have kept the roster from settling in, even after the club added two pitchers from the Red Sox earlier this month, and the front office is still weighing whether this is a group worth pushing forward or one that needs a harder reset.
What makes the decision more urgent is how quickly the deadline picture can change if the team hits another rough patch. Oakland still wants to improve its chances in the division, with starting pitching the clearest need, but one bad week could tilt the conversation from adding help to moving pieces instead, leaving the club to decide just how far it wants to lean into the present. [Read more 🡒]
Royals Revisit A Familiar Bullpen Answer As Pressure Builds
Scott Barlow is back in the mix for Kansas City, where the Royals signed the right-hander to a minor league contract as they keep searching for reliable bullpen help. Barlow spent parts of six seasons with the club earlier in his career, so this is a familiar name for a team that knows exactly what kind of arm it is bringing into the conversation.
The timing also says plenty about where the Royals are right now. Their bullpen ERA sits near the bottom of the American League, which has pushed the club to look for depth wherever it can find it, even if the immediate role is a modest one. Barlow most recently pitched for Oakland before being released in June, and now the Royals will see whether a return to a comfortable setting can help stabilize a relief group still looking for answers. [Read more 🡒]
A's Move On From Brett Harris As Infield Questions Keep Growing
The Athletics kept trimming the infield picture by moving Brett Harris to Boston for minor league right-hander Ben Hansen, a deal that followed Harris being designated for assignment to clear space for a prospect promotion. It was another small but telling roster shift for an Oakland club that has been sorting through its depth chart while trying to find the right mix of young pieces.
Harris, a 2021 seventh-round pick who has spent parts of three big league seasons with the A's, now heads to the Red Sox organization after never quite locking down a permanent role. Hansen, a relief-type arm, lands in Oakland's system and was sent to High-A after working 41.2 innings with Boston's affiliate, leaving the A's with one more arm in the pipeline and one less option on the infield. [Read more 🡒]