The Athletics don’t always resemble a team that is 14 games below .500 and in the basement of a division.
The A’s will look to win for the 13th time in 19 games when they finish a three-game series against the Tampa Bay Rays on Wednesday night at West Sacramento, Calif.
The Athletics and Rays split the first two games of the series. Tampa Bay prevailed 7-4 on Monday before the A’s won 6-0 on Tuesday.
Left-hander Jacob Lopez tossed seven shutout innings to raise his scoreless streak to 24 innings and Lawrence Butler, Colby Thomas and Tyler Soderstrom were the hitting heroes for the last-place team in the American League West.
Butler and Thomas each had two hits and two RBIs and Soderstrom had two hits and scored twice.
The multi-hit outing was the first for Butler since he swatted two homers against the Atlanta Braves on July 8. He was just 11-for-87 (.126) since then entering Tuesday’s contest.
“We’ve been playing some good baseball,” Butler said. “I’ve been feeling I can do better and I showed up and it feels good. It was a great team win and everybody contributed.”
Thomas is receiving playing time with fellow outfielder Denzel Clarke (adductor) sidelined.
Thomas batted .291 with 18 homers and 74 RBIs in 82 games at Triple-A Las Vegas. The 24-year-old increased his average to .200 with Tuesday’s outing. He has one homer and seven RBI in 40 big league at-bats.
“It is the same game,” Thomas said. “It’s a little more sped up, everybody is throwing a little harder and the location is a little better. But once you get settled in, everything else slows down and you can get back to playing your game.”
The Rays mustered just four hits on Tuesday and were blanked for the 11th time this season. Tampa Bay has lost 16 of its last 22 games.
Tampa Bay plans to give recently acquired catcher Nick Fortes a lot of playing time the rest of the season. But the former Miami Marlins backstop is just 2-for-22 in eight games with the Rays.
Fortes was 0-for-3 Tuesday and dropped a pop-up that allowed a run to score. In truth, third baseman Junior Caminero should have called Fortes off.
Fortes is happy to be with the Rays, whom he rooted for while growing up in DeLand, north of Orlando.
“I love this team,” Fortes told reporters. “I’ve been watching them my whole life. It’s super surreal.”
Rays right-hander Drew Rasmussen (9-5, 2.66 ERA) will seek his third straight scoreless effort when he takes the mound on Wednesday. He also didn’t walk anyone in the two outings.
Rasmussen received a no-decision while blanking the Seattle Mariners on four hits over six innings last Friday. In his previous start, the first-time All-Star also allowed four hits while beating the Los Angeles Dodgers with 5 1/3 scoreless innings on Aug. 2.
Rasmussen, 30, lasted just three innings in a no-decision against the visiting Athletics on June 30. He allowed four runs and five hits.
Overall, Rasmussen is 2-0 with a 2.81 ERA in four appearances (three starts) against the A’s. Shea Langeliers (1-for-4) has homered against Rasmussen.
Right-hander J.T. Ginn (2-4, 4.39) starts for the A’s. He lost his last two starts.
Last Friday, he struck out a career-high nine in a loss to the Baltimore Orioles. He allowed three runs and three hits over five innings.
Ginn, 26, had a stellar relief appearance against the Rays on June 30 as he struck out five and retired all 11 batters he faced in 3 2/3 innings. He also pitched two hitless innings of relief against Tampa Bay last season in his major league debut.
–Field Level Media
