The Athletics are running out a lineup that has shown it can do damage, even while the injuries keep piling up. Now they’re trying to solve one of the toughest problems in baseball: Shohei Ohtani on the mound, and the Dodgers waiting behind him.
Oakland has earned real respect for its offense over the last two seasons, and the current group still has enough pop to make things interesting. Nick Kurtz, Shea Langeliers and Henry Bolte have been central to that, with Bolte’s recent success tied in part to keeping the ball on the ground.
But the A’s arrive shorthanded. Brent Rooker, Zack Gelof and Luis Severino are already out, and now Jacob Wilson and Tyler Soderstrom have joined them on the injured list. The roster moves around that situation included Joshua Kuroda-Grauer, Darell Hernaiz and Kade Morris being called up from Triple-A Las Vegas, José Suarez going on the paternity list, and Michael Kelly being designated for assignment.
That makes the challenge even steeper against a Dodgers club loaded with former MVPs and backed by an offense that can bury teams in a hurry. Ohtani has also been one of the best pitchers in baseball this season, trailing only the Brewers’ Jacob Misiorowski in the writer’s view.
Still, the A’s have a few reasons to believe they can put together some resistance at the plate. Shea Langeliers and Jonah Heim have both homered off Ohtani before, and the club is expected to have Heim catch while Langeliers likely serves as the designated hitter. That gives Oakland both bats in the lineup.
The matchup also leans on how the A’s have handled right-handers this year. Nick Kurtz and Lawrence Butler have hit much better against them, and the same has been true for Carlos Cortes, Jeff McNeil and Henry Bolte.
On the mound, the A’s are turning to J.T. Ginn, who has been one of their steadier starters.
His lone rough outing came at the hitter-friendly Las Vegas Ballpark, but he still owns a 3.15 ERA and a 6-4 record. Even with Gage Jump having emerged as one of the rotation’s better arms, Ginn gives Oakland a chance to keep things in range.
Jump’s last outing was a dud after he had been cruising with an ERA near 2.00, but the point remains that pitchers run into bad nights. Ginn has shown he can move past them and stay locked in, and the A’s will need that same kind of stability if they want to finish a tough series against the defending champions with a win.
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