The visiting Oakland Athletics will go for their sixth series win in their last eight attempts on Sunday afternoon when they clash with the Toronto Blue Jays.
The teams have split the first two games of the three-game set after Oakland won 1-0 on Saturday afternoon.
Since July 1, the Athletics are 19-13, the third-best mark in the majors. The Blue Jays, who are 3-2 on their six-game homestand, are 16-18 since the start of July.
Toronto had two hits against four Oakland pitchers on Saturday, one a first-inning single by Vladimir Guerrero Jr. to extend his hit streak to 22 games, matching his career best set in 2022. He is hitting 40-for-81 (.494) with 10 homers and 22 RBIs on his current streak.
Oakland is scheduled to start left-hander JP Sears (9-8, 4.35 ERA) on Sunday. He is 1-0 with a 1.50 ERA in two career appearances (one start) against Toronto.
Toronto is slated to start former Oakland right-hander Chris Bassitt (9-10, 3.95). He is 2-0 with a 2.31 ERA in five career starts against the Athletics. He pitched a season-best eight innings, allowing one run and four hits with seven strikeouts, in a no-decision outing on June 7 at Oakland.
The lone run in Saturday’s game came in the sixth inning against Toronto starter Yariel Rodriguez when Brent Rooker hit his 29th homer of the season. The ball bounced off the top of the left-center-field wall, hit the rail and bounced back onto the field. Rooker stopped at second, but a video review quickly determined that it was a home run.
“The crew chief really didn’t see the play completely so I had to go out and say, ‘Hey, we’ve got to take a look at this,’ ” Athletics manager Mark Kotsay said. “I think it was three inches far enough to be a homer.”
Rooker went 2-for-4, and over his past 37 games, he is 47-for-135 (.348) with six doubles, 16 home runs and 38 RBIs.
Oakland catcher Shea Langeliers was 4-for-4 — all singles — in his first career four-hit game.
A’s starter Osvaldo Bido pitched a career-high six innings in the longest scoreless outing of his career.
Closer Mason Miller’s second successive strong outing since coming off the injured list (fractured left pinky) on Wednesday was an encouraging sign for Oakland.
The All-Star righty allowed a walk and struck out three in the ninth to earn his 17th save.
The second out was a four-pitch strikeout of Guerrero with a runner at first.
“Miller’s one of the best relief pitchers in baseball and you say, ‘Here you go,’ ” Toronto manager John Schneider said. “He made 103 (mph) with his last pitch. Those are the matchups you’d like to see. We just came up on the wrong end of it today. But I thought that it was, ‘Here you go, hit my best stuff,’ to our best hitter.”
The Athletics turned two double plays on grounders on Saturday after going eight consecutive games without one. Their longest streak without turning a double play is nine games in 1981.
–Field Level Media
