Athletics at Royals
The Oakland Athletics hope to get another strong pitching performance as they go after an eighth consecutive victory in the series against the host Kansas City Royals on Wednesday night. Jharel Cotton stymied the Royals for a 2-0 victory in the first of the three-game set Monday and Oakland has allowed four runs in their four wins while yielding 30 in four losses.
Outfielder Khris Davis belted his fourth homer of the season Monday and is 10-for-29 overall with six RBIs in the early going, hitting safely in six straight games and reaching base in all eight. The Royals are struggling out of the gate in the bullpen and at the plate with two wins in seven games, and they send right-hander Jason Hammel to the mound after Tuesday’s day off against Oakland’s Andrew Triggs. Kansas City’s bullpen owns a 7.77 ERA in the first seven contests and the offense is scuffling with one or fewer runs in three games and a .195 batting average overall with 29 strikeouts the last two contests. “We know the quality of hitters that we have on this team,” Royals manager Ned Yost told reporters. “And we just have to wait for the bats to get hot.”
TV: 8:15 p.m. ET, MLB Network, FSN Kansas City
PITCHING MATCHUP: Athletics RH Andrew Triggs (1-0, 0.00 ERA) vs. Royals RH Jason Hammel (0-0, 5.40)
Triggs was outstanding in his season debut while allowing one unearned run and four hits over 5 2/3 innings to earn the victory against the Los Angeles Angels on Thursday. The 28-year-old Nashville native made 24 appearances last season with six starts and finished with a 1-1 record and 4.31 ERA overall, but was better at home (2.81 ERA) than on the road (5.58). Triggs did not face Kansas City in his rookie season a year ago, but Brandon Moss went 0-for-2 with an RBI against him.
Hammel made a decent debut for his sixth team at Minnesota on Thursday in a no-decision, allowing three runs and six hits over five innings, but four walks bumped his pitch count up to 95. The 34-year-old South Carolina native won a career-high 15 games with the World Champion Chicago Cubs last year and is 21-10 in the month of April in his 12 major league seasons. Rajai Davis and Khris Davis each homered against Hammel, who is 4-1 with a 3.75 ERA in seven games (three starts) against Oakland.
WALK-OFFS
1. Kansas City C Salvador Perez (four) and 3B Mike Moustakas (three) combined for seven of the team’s 10 homers.
2. Athletics 3B Trevor Plouffe (4-for-26) and Royals 1B Eric Hosmer (5-for-28) are off to slow starts at the plate.
3. Oakland RHP Sonny Gray (lat) threw a bullpen session Monday, is scheduled to face hitters Thursday and could return by the end of the month.