The Oakland Athletics and San Francisco Giants square off in the middle game of their AL-based Bay Bridge Series matchup. The A’s won the series opener 5-2 behind a strong pitching performance from Graham Godfrey and another off night from Giants starter Tim Lincecum. The Giants will look to bounce back on Saturday as they face A’s starter Guillermo Moscoso for the first time.
The A’s batters have faced Jonathan Sanchez in the past, with Conor Jackson finding the most success against Sachez. In 25 total plate appearances, Jackson is 10-for-21 (.476) with two home runs and five RBIs. Jackson will most likely be in the lineup tonight even if Daric Barton gets another start. Josh Willingham left Friday’s game after aggravating his Achilles injury and is expected to sit out the rest of the series. Ryan Sweeney might get some ABs along the way, but it won’t happen frequently against lefties.
The Giants themselves will look to get something going in their first game against Moscoso. The Giants bats can come and go much like the A’s and facing a pitcher for the first time can often be troublesome. While Moscoso has not been dominant in his four starts for the A’s, he’s had two very solid starts and two starts that weren’t awful, but weren’t particularly good. In his last start against the White Sox, Moscoso gave up five runs (four earned) on six hits and four walks in 6 1/3 innings. The prior start he gave up two runs on five hits and one walk over five innings.
The A’s were able to save their bullpen last night as Graham Godfrey went seven innings. If the A’s get an early lead on Saturday, I wouldn’t be surprised if the team was a little more aggressive in going to their bullpen early.
First pitch is at 7:05pm in Oakland with the game being broadcast on NBC and CSN California.
We’ll be here all weekend long following the 2011 Bay Bridge Series. For more on the Giants and the A’s, head over to McCovey Chronicles and Athletics Nation to get in on the action.