OAKLAND
http://www.whitesoxfanproshop.com/authentic-jeff-keppinger-jersey , Calif. — Right-hander Mike Fiers will look to continue his strong pitching at
home while attempting to extend his dominance of the Minnesota Twins when he
takes the mound for the Oakland Athletics on the middle day of a three-game
series Saturday night.Seeking their 15th consecutive nonlosing series at home,
the A’s got halfway there Friday night when Khris Davis smacked a walk-off home
run to lead off the 10th inning and produce a 7-6 victory in the series
opener.The Twins have not won a series at Oakland since 2011, and have gone just
4-17 at the Northern California site since the start of the 2012 season.Article
continues below ...The win in the series opener shrunk the A’s magic number for
clinching a playoff berth to four over the Tampa Bay Rays (86-67). With just two
home games remaining in the regular season, Oakland (93-61) would have to sweep
the Twins this weekend while the Rays are swept at Toronto in order to clinch at
home.The A’s lead the Rays by 6 1/2 games in their battle for the second
American League wild-card spot.The game-ender was Davis’ second homer of the
night and 45th of the season, putting him four ahead of Boston’s J.D. Martinez
for the major-league lead.The last time the A’s had the major-league leader in
home runs at season’s end was when Jose Canseco tied Detroit’s Cecil Fielder
with 44 in 1991.Davis is 0-for-2 with two walks against right-hander Chase De
Jong (0-1, 3.68), who is scheduled to get the ball for the Twins on Saturday.The
24-year-old has faced the A’s twice in his career
Joe Crede Jersey , both times last season while a member of the Seattle Mariners. One of those games was a start on May 16 in which De Jong gave up four
runs and seven hits in six innings of a 9-6 loss.He’s 0-0 with a 3.60 ERA
against the A’s in his two-year career.While De Jong searches for his first
major-league win, Fiers hopes to demonstrate to A’s management that he can be
trusted as the starting pitcher should Oakland make the single-elimination
wild-card game.The A’s begin the weekend 1 1/2 games behind the New York Yankees
(94-59) in the race for the AL’s first wild-card spot, which carries with it the
home-field advantage in the win-and-advance game.The Yankees have the
tie-breaker advantage should it come to that.Fiers (12-7, 3.38) has done most of
his best pitching at home for the A’s. He’s gone 3-0 with a 3.21 ERA in five
home starts since being acquired last month from Detroit.The 33-year-old is
coming off a road loss at Tampa Bay, but pitched well at Minnesota on Aug. 25,
limiting the Twins to one run in 5 2/3 innings in a 6-2 win.Miguel Sano, who
homered against Fiers in that game
http://www.whitesoxfanproshop.com/authentic-james-shields-jersey , has since hurt his knee and isn’t expected to play in this series.Fiers is 6-1
with a 2.91 ERA in 10 career head-to-heads, including nine starts, against the
Twins. BALTIMORE — The Toronto Blue Jays, like many teams, have feasted on the
pitching of the Baltimore Orioles this season. Toronto banged out three homers
in Monday’s 5-0 victory and now has hit 37 against the Orioles this year. When
the two teams meet for the second game of the series on Tuesday at 7:05 ET at
Camden Yards, the Blue Jays hope to do more of the same. Toronto (68-82) will
start Aaron Sanchez (4-6, 4.90) against Baltimore right-hander Dylan Bundy
(8-14
Ron Santo Jersey , 5.48).Home runs have been a huge problem for Bundy also this year as he’s given up 38 homers already — the most in the major
leagues.Article continues below ...The Jays got homers from Danny Jansen, Kevin
Pillar and Aledmys Diaz in Monday’s victory. It was humid at Camden Yards, and
when that happens, for some reason, the ball tends to fly out of the yard more
often.But the ball didn’t go very far for the Orioles (43-107) in Monday’s game
as Toronto starter Ryan Borucki threw eight shutout innings en route to the
victory. He impressed manager John Gibbons with his work.“He’s going to get
occasional strikeouts, but he needs to get ground balls, so he needs to keep
those guys off-balance
http://www.whitesoxfanproshop.com/authentic-yolmer-sanchez-jersey ,” Gibbons told the media Monday. “I’ll tell you what, I’m proud of him.”Up next
for Toronto will be Sanchez. He has found success versus Baltimore in his
career, posting a 6-3 record with a 3.87 ERA.Bundy pitched better in his last
start and has a 3-2 career record plus a 3.63 ERA versus the Jays. However, the
right-hander has faded after a strong start to the season.The loss in Monday’s
game was the 15th time the Orioles have been shut out this season but more
importantly, it tied a club record for losses in a season (107).The 1988 Orioles
set that record, a season that began with 21 consecutive losses and manager Cal
Ripken, Sr. being let go after just six games. This season did not have anything
like that but there are a number of losing streaks and numerous other issues
that the Orioles just could not fix.“It’s frustrating to say the
least
Adam Engel Jersey ,” Chris Davis told MASNsports.com. “Once we hit 100, it was kind of like … I don’t know. I honestly didn’t have any words for it. It was
embarrassing. It was frustrating. It’s one of those things you never want to be
associated with, but at the same time, you’ve got to learn how to turn the page
and start somewhere. Why not start now?”Davis now is mired in a 1-for-25 slide
and has been having one of the worst offensive seasons in baseball history. He’s
probably as frustrated as anyone, if not more so.The only positive to come out
of this season is that since Baltimore has just 12 games left, it looks like the
team will finish with the worst record in the majors — meaning the Orioles would
get the No. 1 pick in the 2019 draft.Sometimes good things come out of bad
situations.
