Overview
- The three-game set opens at Sutter Health Park in West Sacramento with Cleveland lefty Joey Cantillo facing Oakland righty J.T. Ginn.
- Oakland leans on 23-year-old first baseman Nick Kurtz, who leads MLB with 33 walks and just delivered a tie-breaking two-run double against Kansas City.
- Cleveland’s top prospect Travis Bazzana has joined the roster and is seeking his first big-league hit after going 0-for-6 with two walks against Tampa Bay.
- Cantillo enters with a 2.97 ERA, has yielded only seven home runs to left-handed batters in his career, and has never faced the A’s.
- Ginn has steadied Oakland’s rotation with a recent 2.50 ERA across four starts, and both teams closed April with at least a share of their division leads.
- Previews highlight bats like Oakland’s Shea Langeliers and Cleveland’s José Ramírez using wRC+, a stat that rates a hitter’s run creation against league average.