A pair of rookie right-handers are in line to square off when the Athletics visit the Pittsburgh Pirates on Saturday in the second contest of their three-game series.
Bubba Chandler reportedly will make his third MLB start for Pittsburgh, while Luis Morales will head to the mound for his eighth for the A’s.
Morales (4-1, 3.08 ERA) has won two of his past three outings.
Morales, who will turn 23 on Wednesday, beat the St. Louis Cardinals on Sept. 1 after allowing two runs and five hits over 5 2/3 innings in the 11-3 victory.
He notched his most recent victory last Sunday, giving up three runs in the first two innings before blanking the Cincinnati Reds over the next three in the 7-4 win.
The A’s (73-81) scored two runs in the bottom of the fifth inning to put Morales in position for the win, and the bullpen maintained the lead.
“The guys did a great job,” Morales said through a team interpreter. “I have a ton of confidence in our bullpen.”
Chandler (2-1, 5.66 ERA) carried a perfect game into the sixth inning in his last outing on Saturday against the Washington Nationals. He became just the fourth pitcher in team history to throw a perfect game through five innings in the expansion era (since 1971), according to the Elias Sports Bureau.
He departed after allowing one run and two hits over six innings in the 5-1 victory.
Chandler was not credited with the win because the Pirates (65-89) were trailing 1-0 when he exited.
“Helped the bullpen out, got six strong innings and it’s what pitchers train to do,” Chandler said. “Go out there and give your team the best chance to win, hope I did that and build off of it and have another one of it.”
Pirates manager Don Kelly has been impressed with what he’s seen so far.
“We see the competitor that he is and how he gets after it,” Kelly said. “And whether good, bad or indifferent, he’s always showing up the same guy, intense and ready to go.”
Chandler will face a free-swinging A’s team that is tied for fourth in the majors with 214 home runs.
Nick Kurtz blasted his team-leading 33rd home run on Friday night and Lawrence Butler hit a go-ahead three-run shot in the fifth to help the A’s to a 4-3 win in the opener of the three-game series. They have seven wins in their past eight games.
Brent Rooker and Shea Langeliers each have 30 home runs, making the A’s the only major league team with three players with at least 30 home runs.
“We have an offense that’s capable of putting up runs,” A’s manager Mark Kotsay said. “We do a great job of attacking pitches, and especially fastballs.”
Chandler’s fastball averaged 99.2 mph in his last outing with nine pitches of 100 mph or more. That should play into the A’s strength, however.
“Our offense is aggressive,” Kotsay said. “Some people don’t like our offense, sometimes, because we make early outs, but we seem to be doing OK with the approach we’ve been taking, especially against power guys and good arms.”
A’s second baseman Zack Gelof dislocated his left shoulder on Friday and is out for the remainder of the season.
–Field Level Media
