Giants at Athletics
The Oakland Athletics finished the first half of their season as the hottest team in baseball due in part to their strong showing against National League competition. The red-hot Athletics attempt to pick up where they left off last weekend when they host the San Francisco Giants for the opener of their three-game interleague series.
Oakland entered the All-Star break having won 21 of its last 27 games, thrusting itself into the conversation for the final wild-card spot in the American League after beginning the season with a 34-36 record. The Athletics went 6-1 against the NL West during that run, taking all four of its meetings with San Diego before winning two of three in San Francisco to wrap up the first half of the campaign with a 9-3 mark in interleague play. The Giants haven't been more than five games above or below the break-even mark all year, but they begin the second half of the season four games behind the Los Angeles Dodgers in the NL West after finishing 2017 an NL-worst 64-98. Journeyman infielder Chase d'Arnaud has been a spark atop the batting order for San Francisco lately, collecting two hits - including a pair of solo homers - in each of his last three starts.
TV: 9:35 p.m. ET, NBCS Bay Area (San Francisco), NBCS California (Oakland)
PITCHING MATCHUP: Giants RH Dereck Rodriguez (4-1, 2.89 ERA) vs. Athletics RH Edwin Jackson (1-1, 2.59)
Rodriguez has settled in after a bit of an uneven beginning to his major-league career, as he has yielded a total of three runs over 23 innings in his last four appearances (three starts). The 26-year-old Texan held the Chicago Cubs hitless over the final three frames of a 13-inning victory on July 11 to extend his winning streak to three games. Rodriguez is allowing opponents to bat .304 while going 1-1 with a 3.79 ERA on the road entering his first career interleague outing.
Jackson has been everything Oakland could have asked for through four starts, helping the team win three of his turns while holding the opposition to fewer than three earned runs each time. The 34-year-old journeyman took a hard-luck loss last Friday at San Francisco, giving up two runs on four hits and three walks across six innings. Andrew McCutchen (16-for-41, three homers) has fared well against Jackson, who is 5-5 with a 4.56 ERA in 13 career appearances (12 starts) versus the Giants.
WALK-OFFS
1. Athletics OF Stephen Piscotty is riding a nine-game hitting streak and has homered five times over that span, but only one of his 12 blasts this year have come at home.
2. San Francisco has hit a major league-worst six home runs this month.
3. Oakland has won 14 of its last 20 home games in the all-time series.