Game #117: Athletics at Nationals Game Thread

Yahoo

3 days ago

Wakey wakey everyone! We got a super early morning contest today as the Athletics wrap up their time in the nation's capital with the series finale against the Washington Nationals. The A's whooped the Nats in the first game before suffering a walk-off loss in yesterday's contest. Time to finish off the Nationals and head up to Baltimore on a winning note.
Left-hander Jacob Lopez is set to take the ball this morning for what will be his 14th start of the year. The 27-year-old has come a long way since the start of the season. Beginning the year in the minors before a promotion to the bullpen, then getting a chance to start games for the big league squad and taking advantage of his opportunity. Lopez is bringing a 3.99 ERA into the finale and he's coming off a pair of shutout appearances. He'll be trying to make it three in a row with another strong start for his team. Hope he got to bed early last night!
The starting lineup shakes out like this today:
Back atop the lineup is Shea Langeliers, his third straight game leading for the squad. After catching the past two nights however he'll get a day off from catching, making way for recently-recalled Willie MacIver to get the start behind the plate. He'll also be batting cleanup. With a left-hander on the opposing mound Lawrence Butler will take a seat on the bench, making way in center field for the righty-swinging Colby Thomas. And second baseman Luis Urias finally returns to the lineup after missing the past two games. That'll shift Max Schuemann over to the hot corner. The rest of the batting order has all the regulars you'd expect like Brent Rooker and Nick Kurtz in their usual spot near the top of the lineup.
For Washington, the fellow cellar dwellers will go with their own left-hander in Mitchell Parker. Now in his second season in the big leagues with the Nats, his sophomore season has gone a lot harder than his rookie campaign. After a hot start to the year Parker has gotten hit hard on a regular basis. He's given up four or more runs nine times in 22 starts, including his most recent outing when he got shelled for eight earned runs in just four innings of work. If something is off in his mechanics then A's hitters need to take advantage of that and jump on the young lefty early if they want to escape D.C. with a pair of wins.
And here's how Washington's starting nine looks for this early-morning finale:
Can the A's claim their 51st victory? Time for a series win! Let's go A's!