Athletics at Royals
The Oakland Athletics squandered a pair of early two-run leads in their last outing to prevent the club from strengthening its hold on the second wild card in the American League. The Athletics look to rebound from their third setback in five contests on Thursday afternoon when they play the finale of their four-game series at the Kansas City Royals.
Marcus Semien highlighted his third multi-hit performance of the series by belting a solo shot in Oakland's 6-4 loss on Wednesday, boosting his RBI total to nine in his last three games and 19 in August. Mark Canha continued his sizzling month by launching a two-run blast, giving him four homers in his last five contests overall and 31 hits with 17 RBIs and 14 runs scored in August. The Athletics, who reside one game in front of Tampa Bay for the second wild card, failed in their bid to move a season-best 22 games over .500 after Kansas City registered just its fourth win in 14 contests. Hunter Dozier homered and drove in three runs on Wednesday, pushing his hit total to three in his last two games after going 3-for-24 in his previous six.
TV: 1:15 p.m. ET, MLB Network, FS Kansas City
PITCHING MATCHUP: Athletics RH Chris Bassitt (9-5, 3.59 ERA) vs. Royals RH Glenn Sparkman (3-9, 5.52)
Bassitt turned in his fifth straight strong start but walked away with a no-decision on Saturday despite allowing two runs on four hits over 5 2/3 innings against San Francisco. The 30-year-old has flustered left-handed batters to the tune of limiting them to a .198 batting average, as opposed to permitting right-handers to hit .255 versus him. Left-handed batter Alex Gordon, however, is 3-for-9 with three RBIs against Bassitt, who owns an 0-1 mark with a 3.57 ERA in four career starts versus Kansas City.
Sparkman fell to 0-4 in his last seven outings on Saturday after permitting four runs on six hits over 4 1/3 innings of a 4-2 setback at Cleveland. The 27-year-old saw his pitch count elevate in a hurry, reaching 100 for the first time since July 16 as he walked three batters for the third time in his last five trips to the mound. Sparkman will be making his first career start against Oakland.
WALK-OFFS
1. Oakland OF Robbie Grossman has six hits and three runs scored in his last five games.
2. Kansas City 1B Ryan O'Hearn has three solo homers among his five hits over his last four contests.
3. Athletics OF-DH Khris Davis was called home for the birth of his second child prior to Wednesday's game.