Oakland @ Kansas City preview
Kauffman Stadium
Last Meeting ( Jul 16, 2010 ) Oakland 5, Kansas City 1
Veteran Ben Sheets was signed to be the ace of the Oakland Athletics and there was plenty of early-season optimism over the return of two-time All-Star Justin Duchscherer.
Brett Anderson started strong and received a contract extension and Dallas Braden became immortal when he tossed a perfect game on Mother’s Day.
But none of those four hurlers can claim the title of Oakland’s top pitcher in 2010.
All-Star Trevor Cahill easily has been the team's best starter this season and will make his first start of the season’s second half on Saturday when Oakland visits the Kansas City Royals.
The 22-year-old Cahill has won eight of his last nine decisions and has been one of the top pitchers in the American League.
He takes a 9-3 record and impressive 2.94 ERA into Saturday's outing in the second of the three-game series. Oakland won the opener behind seven innings of one-run pitching from Gio Gonzalez.
Cahill has allowed two earned runs or less in 10 of his 15 starts. His next victory will match last year’s total when he posted a 10-13 mark as a rookie.
Opposing hitters batted .270 against Cahill in 2009. It has been a much different story this season as Cahill has held opponents to a .206 clip.
A winner in his two previous career outings, Cahill is making his third start against the Royals.
Kansas City led the majors with a .282 batting average over the first half of the season.
The catalyst for the Royals’ offense is left fielder Scott Podsednik, who is hitting .300 with 25 stolen bases.
Podsednik has had good success against Cahill, going 3-for-7 (.429) with a double, triple and two RBIs.
Kansas City third baseman Alberto Callapso went 2-for-4 in the opening game of the series for his third two-hit outing in his last five games. Callapso, who is hitting .277 this season, is a career .353 hitter against the Athletics.
Left-hander Bruce Chen (5-3, 3.81 ERA) gets the start for the Royals.
Chen has allowed three earned runs or less in each of his last five starts, but is just 2-3 during the stretch.
Oakland third baseman Kevin Kouzmanoff was 2-for-4 with two RBIs in Friday’s game and the Athletics hope the All-Star break refreshed Kouzmanoff, who recently went through a career-worst 0-for-30 hitless streak.
Kouzmanoff batted .336 in June and that lofty average included the beginning of his slump. He’s hitting .211 in July after Friday’s multiple-hit performance.