61-50 this season

What a game last night. At least the ending. A walk off home run and it was also a first major league home run? Yes, it is what people who love baseball drama live to see. Tonight, the drama will continue with Robin sending out the following guys to win:

Alejandro De Aza CF, Youk 3B, Big Donkey 1B, Alex Rios RF, AJ Pierzynski C, The Cuban Missile SS, The Cuban Tank LF, Tyler Flowers C, Bacon 2B. 

Francisco Liriano will start for the Sox tonight. Liriano will be making his second home start of the season. So far, he has not been able to pick up a win with his new team. In his last start, he got a no decision against the Angels where he allowed just one run on four hits in five innings. He ended up leaving this start early after getting hit in his left leg.

In his career against Oakland, Liriano is 3-4 with a 3.96 ERA in 13 career games. The last time he faced them, he was still with the Twins. In that game, he struck out a career-high 15 batters, but he did end up taking the loss. Tonight, he will be hoping to grab his first win as a member of the White Sox.

60-52 this season

Bob Melvin will send out the following guys to get back on track:

Coco Crisp CF, Jonny Gomes DH, Josh Reddick RF, Yoenis Cespedes LF, Chris Carter 1B, Brandon Inge 3B, Derek Norris C, Adam Rosales SS, Jemile Weeks 2B.

Travis Blackley will start for the A’s this evening. Travis is getting a start in an effort to afford Tommy Milone and Jarrod Parker some extra rest. Both Milone and Parker are venturing into unknown territory when it comes to innings pitched.

This will be his 11th start since he was claimed off waivers from San Francisco in May. In addition to starting, he also made four relief appearances with the Giants. In his starts this season, he is 3-3 with a 3.62 ERA. In relief, he was  1-0 with a 3.79 ERA. The last two times he has pitched have been in relief, including this past Tuesday when he pitched against the Angels. The last time he started was July 29 against Baltimore. The A’s lost the game by a final of 6-1. Blackley threw five innings of six hit ball surrendering five runs, four walks and he had one strikeout for good measure. Tonight will be the first time he faces the White Sox.

*Notes: The White Sox are getting good at one run games. They have won 10 of their last 13 after last night’s walk off win. The A’s now have seven players with 10 or more home runs after Chris Carter hit his 10th on Wednesday. The last time the A’s had so many players with 10 or more home runs was in 2005.