The Oakland Athletics have only swept one series all season. They’ll look to add another sweep in Detroit on Thursday afternoon.
Oakland has won the first two games of the three-game series and four of its past five games overall. The Athletics’ only series sweep this season came at Milwaukee from June 9-11.
The A’s romped to a 12-3 victory on Wednesday, blasting three homers in the process.
Esteury Ruiz stole his major-league-leading 43rd base, sparking Oakland to a three-run first inning.
“He’s fearless out there. He’s going to go,” A’s catcher Shea Langeliers said. “He knows what he’s doing. He’s so fast and runs the bases well. It’s a big advantage for us when he’s out there on the bases.”
However, Ruiz later injured his right (throwing) arm. He was due to have X-rays and potentially an MRI to determine the extent of the injury.
Rookie left-hander Hogan Harris (2-2, 5.17 ERA) will start the series finale for the A’s. He went 0-2 with a 5.63 ERA in his past three starts after posting back-to-back victories.
Harris gave up five runs (four earned) and nine hits in 5 1/3 innings against the New York Yankees on June 29. He yielded just two runs in the first five innings, but New York erupted for eight runs in the sixth.
“I thought he managed the game pretty well,” Oakland manager Mark Kotsay said. “Going back out for the sixth inning, I still felt good about him. Unfortunately, that inning got away from us.”
Harris, who features a mix of fastballs, cutters, changeups and curveballs, will be making his fourth career start and ninth appearance. He has yet to face the Tigers.
He will be opposed by right-hander Michael Lorenzen (2-6, 4.28 ERA), who was surprisingly chosen as Detroit’s All-Star representative.
Lorenzen said the honor was “completely unexpected.”
Manager A.J. Hinch broke the news to him.
Lorenzen said, “I’m like, ‘There’s no way. This is fishy, but there is no way I made the All-Star Game, like there is absolutely no way.’ And then he told me that I did. I kind of broke down. I was like, ‘I’m a mid-4, how did I make the All-Star team?’ But it was awesome.”
Lorenzen signed a one-year contract with the Tigers during the offseason.
“He came here to get better, and he did, and he gets rewarded,” Hinch said. “In his ninth year in the big leagues, to tell somebody he gets to be a first-time All-Star, that was an emotional meeting and a really cool moment for me, the pitching department and the entire organization. I’m really glad he’s ours.”
Lorenzen has been charged with the loss in four of his last five starts. He hasn’t posted a victory since May 16, a span of eight starts in which he went 0-4 with a 4.88 ERA.
He had a 5.30 ERA in six June starts. In his latest outing, Lorenzen gave up five runs and seven hits in five innings at Colorado on Friday. All of the Rockies’ runs off Lorenzen came in the second inning.
“I thought I threw the ball really good and had really good stuff,” Lorenzen said. “Really good but not getting results isn’t good enough. I got to figure out how to get results.”