The A’s will begin a 10-game home stand tonight, and will start off by facing the Tampa Bay Rays (53-49) for 3 games.  The A’s last faced the Rays in May and took 2 out of 3 from them in St. Petersburg.

Monday 7:05 PM PST: (LHP) David Price (14-4) Vs (RHP) A.J. Griffin (3-0)

• David Price has easily been one of the most consistent left handed, or just in general, pitchers in baseball this season. That didn’t change in his last start against the Baltimore Orioles either.  He held the O’s to just 1 run over 7 innings while allowing 7 hits, no walks and striking out 10.  Price Faced the A’s earlier this season and held them to just 3 hits, 1 run, 1 walk and struck out 12 over 8 innings.
• A.J. Griffin had another quality start against the Toronto Blue Jays in his last outing.  He held them to 3 hits, no runs, 3 walks and struck out a career high of 9.  Griffin will be making his first career start against the Rays tonight.

Tuesday 7:05 PM PST: (RHP) James Shields (8-7) Vs (LHP) Tom Milone (9-7)

• James Shields was not great in his last outing against the Baltimore Orioles, allowing 6 hits, 5 runs and 5 walks, but he did strike out 10.  Shields has not faced the A’s this season yet, but has a 4-3 career record against them with a 4.58 ERA over 11 starts.
• Tom Milone’s last start against the Toronto Blue Jays was a typical Milone road start, allowing 6 runs (5 earned) on 8 hits with no walks and striking out 7.  Like Griffin, Milone will be making his first career start against the Rays in this series.

Wednesday 12:35 PM PST: (RHP) Alex Cobb (4-8) Vs (RHP) Jarrod Parker (7-4)

• Alex Cobb saw the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim in his last start.  Over 7 innings he allowed 8 hits, 3 runs, no walks and struck out 3.  Cobb has faced the A’s once in his career and in that start he allowed 8 hits, 5 runs, 4 walks and struck out 4 over 4.1 innings.
• Jarrod Parker was not great in his last start against the Baltimore Orioles, allowing 8 hits and 6 runs while walking 1 and striking out 8.  Along with the other 2 rookies, this will be his first career start against the Rays.

Keys to Success:

It’s another big test for the rookies in this series with none of the 3 having faced the Rays before.  The first game will definitely be the hardest, but it’s never an easy task facing the Rays.  As they did on most of their road trip, score early and often and hopefully the pitching can take care of the rest.

For more on the Tampa Bay Rays, visit Cowbell Clankers. 

(Photo: Kwong Yee Cheng/Flickr)

This will probably be the hardest series for the A’s thus far, Tampa Bay Rays (17-8) have won 9 of their last 10 games and the series will begin with Oakland facing one of the best left-handed pitchers in the league.  This 3-game series is the last one before the A’s head home to start a 6-game home stand, so here’s hoping they end on a high note.

Friday 4:10 PM PST:  (RHP) Tyson Ross (1-1) Vs (LHP) David Price (4-1)

• Tyson Ross got knocked around by the Baltimore Orioles in his last start, he allowed 11 hits, 9 earned runs, walked 1 and struck out 1 over 4 innings.
• Not surprisingly, David Price is off to a strong start this season.  His last start was against the offensive juggernauts that are called the Texas Rangers, he was able to hold them to 6 hits, 2 runs over 6.1 innings of work which lead to him collecting his 4th win of the season.

Saturday 4:10 PM PST: (RHP) Bartolo Colon (3-2) Vs (RHP) Jeremy Hellickson (3-0)

• In his last start Bartolo Colon had another strong outing for the A’s.  He pitched 8.1 innings against the Baltimore Orioles, allowed 7 hits, 2 earned runs (which came in the 9th inning), walked 1, and struck out 5.
• Despite his effective outing against the Seattle Mariners in his last start, Hellickson was handed a no decision.  He pitched 7 innings. allowed 6 hits, only 1 earned run, struck out 7, and walked none.  In his first 5 games, he has yet to take a loss this season.