The Oakland Athletics send out Brandon McCarthy as they look to take the second game of their three game series against the Kansas City Royals. McCarthy is coming off an outing in which he gave up four runs, all of which were unearned. Of course, the runs were unearned because of McCarthy’s errors, so it’s hard to describe this as a completely successful performance. The A’s won the game in extra innings and McCarthy did keep things close, so that should probably be considered solid enough.
McCarthy will face Luke Hochevar who has been a bit inconsistent lately. Hochevar is 3-3 with a 5.48 ERA, but he’s mixed in some solid outings with his poor performances. In his last appearance he gave up three runs over 6 1/3 innings against Minnesota. On April 15 he gave up one run on one hit and two walks over seven innings against Seattle. It’s safe to say he’s performed well against some struggling offenses.
Which brings us to the Oakland A’s. The Athletics’ offense continues to struggle to gain any measure of consistency. It would not be shocking at all to see the A’s win or lose this game 3-1. The only changes in today’s lineup has Andy LaRoche playing second to give Mark Ellis a day off. Conor Jackson is out of the lineup after his rather scary collision with Matt Treanor, who is back in the lineup.
Oakland Athletics
1. Coco Crisp (S) CF
2. Daric Barton (L) 1B
3. David DeJesus (L) RF
4. Josh Willingham® LF
5. Hideki Matsui (L) DH
6. Kurt Suzuki® C
7. Andy LaRoche® 2B
8. Kevin Kouzmanoff® 3B
9. Cliff Pennington (S) SS
Kansas City Royals
1. Chris Getz (L) 2B
2. Melky Cabrera (S) CF
3. Alex Gordon (L) LF
4. Billy Butler® DH
5. Jeff Francoeur® RF
6. Eric Hosmer (L) 1B
7. Mike Aviles® 3B
8. Matt Treanor® C
9. Alcides Escobar® SS