Toronto @ Oakland preview
Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum
Last Meeting ( May 2, 2010 ) Oakland 3, Toronto 9
With their chances to win the AL West likely done, the Oakland Athletics return to the Bay Area for a seven-game homestand - starting Monday night with a three-game set against the Toronto Blue Jays.
The Athletics were swept by the Minnesota Twins on Sunday as Kevin Slowey tossed seven no-hit innings before being pulled for precautionary reasons by manager Ron Gardenhire. The Twins went on to post a 4-2 victory.
Oakland (57-59) limped to a 1-5 mark on its road trip and has lost 10 of its last 16 contests, falling 10 games behind the AL West-leading Texas Rangers.
Toronto (62-55) is in the middle of a nine-game road trip that concludes against the Boston Red Sox. The Blue Jays are nine games behind the Tampa Bay Rays in the wild card standings and 10 games behind the AL East-leading New York Yankees.
After this series, the Blue Jays play 12 of their next 16 against the Red Sox, Rays and Yankees, respectively.
But for now, the Blue Jays will try to make up ground against the weak-hitting Athletics, who have gone seven games without a home run and are tied with the Seattle Mariners for fewest homers (70) in the majors. Oakland also scored just 11 runs on the six-game trip.
The Blue Jays will start right-hander Shaun Marcum (10-6, 3.87 ERA) against left-hander Brett Anderson (3-3, 2.88 ERA) on Monday.
Marcum is coming off his worst game of the season when he allowed four homers and eight runs in four-plus innings en route to a 10-1 loss to Boston on Wednesday. He walked three batters in the first inning.
Marcum is 2-1 with a 3.54 ERA in five career starts against the A’s. He allowed one run and six hits in 6 1/3 innings in a 6-1 victory over Oakland on May 2.
While the Athletics have struggled with their bats, the pitching has been outstanding. Oakland has a 2.86 ERA at home, the lowest in the AL.
Anderson has not allowed a homer in 50 innings, the longest streak in the majors this season. He should get a severe test on Monday in his first game against the Blue Jays, who lead the major leagues with 181 homers.
Third baseman Jose Bautista leads the majors with 36 homers and has a team-leading 88 RBIs. Vernon Wells has 22 homers.
Anderson is 1-2 with a 3.72 ERA since coming off the disabled list in July for elbow problems. He allowed one run in seven innings Tuesday, but was outdueled by Seattle ace Felix Hernandez in a 2-0 loss.
Oakland left fielder Conor Jackson, who has been sidelined since the end of June with a hamstring injury, is expected to be activated as early as this afternoon.