Joe Boyle takes the mound as Athletics aim to win first series of the year

The Oakland Athletics will take on the Detroit Tigers this afternoon at 10:40 am PDT. Joe Boyle will toe the rubber for the A's as they aim to take their first series victory of the young season.

The A's come into today's matchup at 2-7 on the year, having beaten Kenta Maeda and the Tigers 4-0 yesterday on the back of a strong outing from starter Paul Blackburn.

Boyle will hope to follow in Blackburn's footsteps and get his season moving in the right direction. Boyle wasn't inspiring last time out, giving up 8 runs on 8 hits in 2.2 innings against the Red Sox.

The Tigers have similar offensive potential so Boyle will have to bring his A game if the A's want to leave Detroit with another victory.

Boyle had seemingly found a solution to his control issues late last year, and looked strong in his first couple spring training outings. He finished the month of March on a down note though, allowing 12 walks in his final three spring outings.

He followed that up with 4 walks in his start against the Red Sox, a troubling sign for those who have been watching him closely over the past year.

We'll see what Boyle has in store for us today against a strong Tigers offense.

Abraham Toro gets the leadoff spot this afternoon. He's hitting .091/.286/.364 through his first 14 plate appearances, making it an interesting choice by manager Mark Kotsay.

Ryan Noda is off to a slow start but will have the platoon advantage against Tigers' starter Jack Flaherty.

JJ Bleday on the other hand has been hitting well, posting a .265/.324/.471 line with a homer and 4 RBI through 37 plate appearances.

As of today, Bleday, Noda, Zack Gelof, and Seth Brown are the only Athletics to have appeared in all 9 games so far. Brown has not been hitting well enough to warrant being part of that group but since the team sent Esteury Ruiz to Triple-A, they don't have much in the way of options there.

All the A's can do at this point is keep putting runs on the board and trying to whittle away at the miserable -26 run differential. Flaherty is a tough draw but with another chilly day forecast, the offense might be able to take advantage of the young righty.