The A’s are back on the road, and the timing could hardly be more important. After getting swept by the Miami Marlins at home, they head to Detroit carrying a three-game losing streak and a record that has slipped to 41-49. That leaves them 5 1/2 games out in the division and four back of the final wild card spot, with five teams standing in front of them.
Tonight’s opener puts them against Tarik Skubal, who is set for his 12th start of the season. The Tigers left-hander is still working his way back after elbow surgery on May 6, and even if he hasn’t looked quite like the overpowering version that won two Cy Young awards, he’s still been excellent. His 3.15 ERA is a reminder that he remains one of the toughest arms in the game, which is exactly why his name is expected to dominate trade talk in the weeks ahead.
Skubal has also been a problem for the A’s before. In 10 career starts against them, he owns a 2.81 ERA, though that has translated to only four wins and three losses.
He’ll face an Oakland club that has been sliding hard lately, going 3-11 over its last 14 games. The A’s have spent much of the season hovering around .500, but this stretch has pushed them into their roughest patch yet, and they need to stop the bleeding quickly if they want any chance of getting back into the race before the All-Star break.
The A’s counter with J.T. Ginn, and the numbers say he’s been more than holding his own.
He enters with a 3.04 ERA across 19 games, and if you strip away the three relief appearances he made in April, that mark drops to 2.87 over 16 starts. He didn’t make the All-Star team, which wasn’t a shock, but it still stings a little for a fan base watching an emerging starter take shape in real time.
Ginn is coming off a sharp outing last time out, when he threw six innings and allowed one earned run, and the A’s could use another one like that to get the trip started right.
The middle game of the series brings Jeffrey Springs against Troy Melton. Melton has been nearly untouchable in seven starts for Detroit, carrying a 2.07 ERA into the matchup.
He’s only seen the A’s once before, when he worked three shutout relief innings last season, so this will be his first start against them. Springs, on the other hand, has been hit hard lately.
He gave up six runs in his last outing against the Los Angeles Dodgers, and his 5.79 ERA has become tough to ignore. At this point, it’s getting harder to understand why manager Mark Kotsay keeps leaning on him when younger arms could be getting valuable innings for what comes next.
The series wraps up Thursday with Jack Perkins on the mound for the A’s and Framber Valdez going for Detroit. Valdez, the veteran left-hander, hasn’t delivered the kind of dominant season the Tigers were hoping for after giving him that big contract this offseason, but he has been serviceable.
Perkins, meanwhile, is still fighting through a rough stretch in the rotation. He has an 8.10 ERA in six starts, and his last outing may have been his toughest yet, with seven earned runs allowed against the Marlins.
It’s the kind of development start that can go sideways in a hurry, and the A’s will be hoping it doesn’t do any lasting damage to the 26-year-old’s confidence.
First pitch is set for 3:40.
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