Guardians at Athletics

The sun is setting on a high-scoring weekend in West Sacramento as the Guardians look to polish off a sweep of the Athletics at Sutter Health Park. Cleveland has already poured on 22 runs in the first two games of this series, and looking at the pitching matchup today, there is very little reason to believe the scoring barrage stops here.

The Athletics (17-16) are walking into a tactical nightmare this afternoon. Not only is their bullpen gassed from a brutal week of high-volume usage—including a heavy workload following a rotation injury and a blowout loss yesterday—but they are also forced to play without their offensive engine, Shea Langeliers. Langeliers is away from the team today following the birth of his child, and his absence is a massive blow; he leads the team with 10 home runs and a .336 average. Without him, the Oakland order is leaning on a core that historically struggles against southpaws, now facing a guy in Parker Messick who has been virtually untouchable on the road this season with a 0.00 ERA across 12.2 innings. Messick’s elite 0.88 WHIP and 9.4 K/9 suggest he is going to carve through an Oakland lineup missing its primary catalyst.

On the other side, Aaron Civale is a glaring regression candidate. While his 3.23 ERA looks serviceable, his 4.58 xERA and 1.30 WHIP tell the real story of a pitcher who has been living on the edge. He is facing his former team today, a club that knows him intimately and features seven left-handed or switch-hitting bats specifically positioned to exploit his career-long vulnerability to lefties (.840 OPS allowed). With the wind blowing out to left field at the hitter-friendly Sutter Health Park, Cleveland’s (18-16) pull-heavy left-handed hitters are primed for another big day. Given the state of the Oakland bullpen and the critical absence of Langeliers, the Guardians are the clear side to be on.