After being swept in a three-game series against their division rival Texas Rangers, the Los Angeles Angels return home to host the Oakland Athletics for the first time in 2022.
Manager Joe Maddon’s pitching staff surrendered 23 runs to the Rangers and their offense couldn’t quite keep up with their inability to throw up zeros. But some good news lies ahead for the Angels because they’re welcoming the A’s, who were one late-inning rally away from being swept in a four-game series in Oakland just last week.
The Angels remain just one game out of first place in the American League West behind the Houston Astros and carry a record of 24-16 as they begin the first series of their nine-game homestand.
Game 1: 6:38 p.m. PT
Chase Silseth makes his second career MLB start against the same club he made a bit of history against by becoming the second pitcher in Angels history to toss at least six innings and allow just one hit during his Major League debut. The 22-year-old lived up to the moment and built on the impressive five-start stretch in Double-A after posting a 1.73 ERA with 37 strikeouts in just 26 innings to begin the season.
This will be his Angel Stadium debut and will surely get a warm welcome from the hometown crowd.
He will be matched up with Paul Blackburn, who was impressive in his last outing against the Angels with his second consecutive outing of 6.2 innings pitched, and on May 14, he only allowed one earned run on five hits. His season ERA stands at 1.67 with 29 strikeouts to only five walks in 37.2 innings pitched.
Game 2: 6:07 p.m. PT
Michael Lorenzen rebounded from a tough outing against the Washington Nationals on May 7, with an impressive seven innings of one-run baseball in his last start against the A’s, and did so with only three strikeouts.
After a few marathon games against the Rangers, Maddon will need to rely on his front-end rotation arms to effectively eat some innings and get back on track. Lorenzen’s season has been solid with a 3.57 ERA with a 1.10 WHIP over 35.1 innings pitched.
Frankie Montas takes the mound for the A’s in Game 2 after striking out 12 of the 24 batters he faced in his last start against the Angels. The Athletics’ ace holds a 3.67 ERA and a FIP of 3.37, which is identical to his 2021 numbers. Unfortunately for Montas, he isn’t getting much help from his defense as his expected advanced metrics believe his numbers should be much better than what is currently charted.
Game 3: 1:07 p.m. PT
The Angels’ rotation features many young arms, but perhaps non quite as impressive as Patrick Sandoval, who starts the series finale with a season ERA of 1.91, that leads the team. With 6.1 innings pitched against the Athletics in his prior start, Sandoval continued his trend of handing out free passes which can account for most of the trouble, and runs that he allows.
With the Angels improved defense, Sandoval could benefit from learning to limit his walk total and working without the burden of self-manufactured traffic on the bases.
The Athletics have not yet announced a starter.
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