The Oakland Athletics will go for a series victory when they face the Chicago White Sox in the finale of a four-game set Sunday afternoon at Guaranteed Rate
Field.
Oakland (40-37) rallied for a 7-6 victory Saturday to post its second win in the past three games against the White Sox. The A’s have won six of their past
seven games and have started a 10-game road trip with an impressive record of
4-1.
Meanwhile
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opposite direction. The White Sox have lost nine of their past 10 games and
dropped to 7-16 in one-run games after Saturday’s defeat.
Oakland has enjoyed its recent visits to Chicago’s South Side, winning eight of its last 13 games at the ballpark.
The latest win came thanks in large part to the heroics of outfielder Nick Martini, who grew up in the Chicago suburb of Crystal Lake and attended White
Sox games as a kid. Martini singled in the go-ahead run for his first big league
hit Saturday, and he figures to have another contingent of family and friends in
the stands on Sunday to support him.
Martini was called up from the minors before Saturday’s contest and promptly appeared in his fourth big league game.
“I told my family immediately,” Martini said when asked about getting the call to the majors. “I was like, ‘Hey, I’m going to be in Chicago this weekend.
Everybody was super-stoked.”
The A’s will turn to right-hander Paul Blackburn (1-1, 8.03 ERA), who will make his fourth start of the season. Blackburn has posted a 4-2 record with a
4.06 ERA in 13 career starts. He never has faced Chicago.
The White Sox will counter with left-hander Carlos Rodon (0-2, 4.41 ERA)
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25-year-old was sidelined for the first couple months of the season because of a
biceps injury.
Rodon allowed two earned runs in each of his first two starts before giving up four earned runs in his most recent outing. He is 1-1 with a 4.67 ERA in
three career starts against the Athletics.
One bright spot for the White Sox is shortstop Tim Anderson, who has homered in back-to-back games. His latest blast cleared the wall in right field and
marked his 13th home run of the season.
“He’s seeing the ball very well, obviously,” White Sox manager Rick Renteria said. “Having some good at-bats, getting some pitches he can handle and he’s
obviously driven a few balls out of the ballpark.”
Anderson, who turned 25 on Saturday, has focused more on delivering power to all fields.
“The more I grow, the better hitter I become,” Anderson said. “I’m going to keep working.”
For Oakland, closer Blake Treinen has converted 14 consecutive save opportunities. In his last 21
appearances
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Jhoulys Chacin settled down nicely after a rough start.
Trailing 2-0 after the first three batters of the game, Chacin threw seven solid innings and Hernan Perez homered among his three hits, leading the
Milwaukee Brewers to a 7-2 victory over the Atlanta Braves on Thursday night in
a matchup of first-place teams.
NL Central Division-leading Milwaukee won its fourth game in a row to go 17 games over .500 (52-35) for the first time since July 1, 2014, when the Brewers
were 51-34.
Chacin (7-3) gave up three hits and two earned runs while matching a season high with seven strikeouts in what tied for his longest outing this year. The
right-hander, who was 0-2 in his previous three starts while allowing 10 runs in
15 2/3 innings, retired 20 of the last 24 batters he faced.
”Jhoulys pitched excellent – after the first,” Milwaukee manager Craig Counsell said. ”He locked it in and made some really good pitches the rest of
the night.”
Dan Jennings pitched two perfect innings for his first save this season, and second of his career.
NL East-leading Atlanta dropped its third consecutive game after winning four straight – and lost for the first time this season on a Thursday (7-1).
Braves left-hander Max Fried (1-3) lasted only three innings in his third start of the season, giving up four earned runs and four hits with three
walks.
”He had a blister starting and he’s had a history of the blister thing
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kind of surfaced, I decided I didn’t want to take any chances, so I shut him
down.”
Atlanta gave Fried a 2-0 lead in the first, but he allowed a run in the bottom of the frame and did not help his cause in the second. After a leadoff
triple by Perez and a walk to Keon Broxton, Milwaukee tied it at 2 on a single
by Tyler Saladino. Fried failed to hold the runners on first and second by not
even looking at them, so Broxton and Saladino converted a double steal. Erik
Kratz’s groundout scored Broxton to give Milwaukee a 3-2 lead.
”We’re getting the right guys out there, trying to do our homework and find spots when we can take advantage of something,” Counsell said.
Then, Fried not only walked Chacin, he fired a wild pitch that bounced off the backstop on ball four. Catcher Tyler Flowers retrieved the ball and threw to
Fried covering the plate. But Saladino – who appeared to be an easy out – slid
awkwardly in front of the plate and knocked it out of the pitcher’s glove.
Saladino got up and stepped on the plate for a 4-2 lead.
Perez hit a two-run homer – his fifth – off reliever Dan Winkler in the eighth.
MORE MOUND MISCUES
In the first
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Freddie Freeman. Chacin fielded the ball, looked at Albies and then slowly
lobbed a high toss to first which allowed the speedster to score without a throw
home. … In the eighth, Winkler’s pickoff attempt at first hit Jonathan Villar in
the head and the ball ended up in Milwaukee’s dugout for an error. Villar took
second and scored on a single by Christian Yelich.
FREEMAN STILL SLUMPING
In his previous nine games in Milwaukee, Freeman was hitting .419 (13-for-31) with six home runs and seven walks. But that did not end his slump, as he was 0
for 3 and is now batting .154 (10-for-65) in his last 16 games.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Braves: RHP Julio Tehran is not in Milwaukee after coming down with an illness while the team was in New York. Since he was not scheduled to start
against the Brewers, the Braves sent him back to Atlanta.
Brewers: INF Saladino (left ankle sprain) was activated from the disabled list and INF Eric Sogard was designated for assignment.
UP NEXT
Braves: RHP Mike Foltynewicz (6-4, 2.02) is 1-1 all-time against Milwaukee.
Brewers: Rookie RHP Freddy Peralta (3-1, 2.28) makes his sixth start.
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