Can Kendall Graveman find his footing against the Mariners?
The Oakland Athletics will be looking to avenge their disappointing loss Friday night with a victory over the Seattle Mariners tonight, but can the pitching hold it down?
The Athletics held a 3-2 lead heading into the seventh inning on Friday, but they came out of it trailing 7-3 thanks to an erratic pitching display by the bullpen.
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The offense was sound for the A’s, Khris Davis homered twice, Matt Chapman went deep, but the bullpen just weren’t able to contain the Mariners, something Andrew Triggs had managed to do prior to his exit after five innings.
Kendall Graveman will be on the bump tonight, looking for his first win of the season. He’s currently 0-2 in three starts with a 9.45 ERA.
Graveman’s command has been absent so far this season, and he just hasn’t looked threatening at all during his time on the mound.
Another poor showing tonight could spell danger for him, especially with the likes of Trevor Cahill, Brett Anderson and Chris Bassitt, among others, knocking on the door down in Triple-A.
Mariners lefty Marco Gonzales has also experienced a slow start to the season but does have a win under his belt (1-1). He’s got a 7.27 ERA in his two starts, but has pitched just 8.2 innings total.
New-look lineup
The Athletics will go with a slightly different lineup tonight.
Mark Canha will start in left field and Trayce Thompson will be out in center field. Outside of those two it remains mostly the same as previous outings.
Canha is 1-for-3 during his brief time with Oakland this season, while Thompson comes in 1-for-6.
Can Khris keep Khrusing?
Khris Davis has been on a tear lately, going 7-for-14 with three home runs and five RBI in his last three games.
The A’s will look to Davis to be a productive contributor in the middle of the lineup again tonight, as he’s a key cog to the team’s success.
For the season Davis is hitting .264 with four home runs and 10 RBI.
Dull back, Hendriks to the DL
Ryan Dull has been reinstated from the disabled list, while Liam Hendriks is headed to the 10-day disabled list himself.
While the news concerns two relievers being swapped for one another, having Dull back is an upgrade over the struggling Hendriks.
Hendriks appeared in six games this season, sporting a 9.00 ERA over three total innings of work.
Next: Bullpen falters as Athletics fall to Mariners
Dull obviously has yet to play this season, but struggled for much of last season with a 5.14 ERA in 49 games with the A’s.
He’ll be hoping to get back to the form he displayed in 2016, posting a 2.42 ERA in 70 appearances (5-5).