Kansas City @ Oakland preview
Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum
Last Meeting ( Aug 3, 2010 ) Kansas City 3, Oakland 2
Two promising 22-year-old pitchers square off Wednesday afternoon when the Kansas City Royals and Oakland Athletics play the finale of a three-game series in Oakland.
Athletics left-hander Brett Anderson makes his second start since coming off the disabled list, while Royals right-hander Sean O’Sullivan makes his third start since Kansas City acquired him from the Los Angeles Angels.
Anderson is making only his eighth start of the season due to two stints on the disabled list with elbow issues.
Anderson started the season strong with 12 scoreless innings in his first two starts and was granted a contract extension through 2013 despite being in just his second major league season. The deal included two team options that could lock up Anderson through 2015.
His first trip to the disabled list began in late April. Anderson returned in late May but left a June 3 start against Boston with more elbow pain and was back on the DL until returning last week.
In his return outing against the Chicago White Sox on July 30, Anderson gave up five runs and 10 hits in 5 1/3 innings. He is 2-2 with a 3.25 ERA in 36 innings.
O’Sullivan is looking to establish himself as a major league starter. He did start 10 games for the Angels in 2009, going 4-2 with a 5.92 ERA in 12 appearances.
His lone 2010 start for the Angels came on June 20 when he beat the New York Yankees, allowing just two runs and two hits in six innings. He started against the Yankees again five days later – this time while wearing a Kansas City uniform as the key player acquired in the deal that sent infielder Albert Callaspo to the Angels.
He lost his Royals debut to New York, allowing five runs and seven hits in five innings. In his last outing, he gave up three runs and four hits in six innings during a no-decision against Baltimore.
Overall, O’Sullivan is 1-1 with a 4.13 ERA in 24 innings.
The two teams have split the first two games of the series. Oakland’s Trevor Cahill threw his first career shutout on Monday and Kansas City squeaked out a 3-2 win on Tuesday.
The Royals have won four of their last five games.
Kansas City outfielder Alex Gordon homered Tuesday, giving him three in the past five games.
Oakland outfielder Rajai Davis went 0-for-3 Tuesday to see his eight-game hitting streak snapped. Davis batted .406 (13-for-32) with seven RBIs during the streak.