Game #24: Athletics vs. Rangers Game Thread

Welcome to The Show Nick Kurtz

The A’s are back at it against their division rivals as the series against the Texas Rangers continues Wednesday evening in West Sacramento.

It’s a potentially franchise-altering day for the Athletics as the team is set to welcome star prospect Nick Kurtz to the active roster. He’ll take over at first base and bat seventh, just behind fellow 1st-rounder Jacob Wilson:

Kurtz has demolished minor league pitching since getting drafted and he’s now officially in the lineup for the first time with the Athletics. He will make his debut just 283 days since getting drafted, the fastest Athletics draftee to make it to the big leagues since 1978 (5th-rounder Scott Meyer). He’s looked comfortable in the batters box at Sutter Health over the past couple of days and should be ready to go for his big league debut.

As expected, Tyler Soderstrom will vacate his primary position of first base in deference to Kurtz. He’ll now slide over to left field while Miguel Andujar takes a seat on the bench. Luis Urias will man the keystone tonight and looks to have the starting gig there locked down, at least until regular second baseman Zack Gelof returns from injury.

Taking the mound for the A’s is lefty JP Sears. The 29-year old is just 2-2 this year but has pitched better than his record suggests. He’s pitched to an above-average 3.13 ERA through his first four starts and is coming off his best start of the season. Last time out the left-hander tossed six shutout innings against the Chicago White Sox, allowing just three hits and a pair of walks to a bad Chicago lineup. He’ll have a tougher task tonight but he’s on a bit of a role entering tonight’s contest. The biggest thing Sears could do for the team is to start this game strong and not let Texas jump out to an early lead, a recurring theme when the A’s have played at home this year.

This is the lineup that Sears will face as Texas looks to make it two in a row over the Athletics:

The biggest notable difference in the Texas starting nine is the absence of star shortstop Corey Seager. The Rangers announced just a few hours before game time that their leader would be going on the injured list due to hamstring strain. Seager played last night but was removed at the beginning of the bottom of the seventh inning after grounding out to end the top of the frame. He’ll miss the rest of this series and indeed all of next week’s series when the A’s travel to Texas for another three games against these Rangers. That’s good luck for the Athletics as Seager has been one of the Rangers’ best hitters this season. He’ll be replaced at shortstop tonight by glove-first shortstop Nick Ahmed, who will be making his season debut tonight after being recalled earlier today.

On the mound for Texas is right-handed rookie Kumar Rocker. A highly-touted arm coming out of Vanderbilt, Rocker made it to the major leagues last season for the first time and looked solid over his first three career starts. This season has been a bit harder for Rocker as he’s sporting a bloated 6.38 ERA over 18 ¹⁄₃ frames, though he is coming off a strong outing his last time out when he collected eight strikeouts in seven innings of work against the Angels.

It’s time to even the series and show Kurtz what winning in the major leagues is all about. Let’s get this W for the new guy. Let’s go A’s!