Photo credit: @Athletics

By Jerry Feitelberg

The Oakland A’s will host the San Diego Padres for two games beginning Tuesday, July 3rd. The teams met in San Diego in mid-June, and the A’s won both games. They won the first game in dramatic fashion when with two out and two strikes, Stephen Piscotty homered to tie the game and then they won it on a Jed Lowrie blast.

The Padres are currently in last place in the NL West with a record of 37-49. The Padres are managed by Andy Green, and they have two former A’s stars on their coaching staff. The fans will welcome Mark McGwire and Matt Stairs back to the Coliseum. The Padres are in a rebuilding mode, and many of the players are not household names yet.

The Padres announced that lefty Clayton Richard will take the mound Tuesday night. Richard is 7-7 and has an ERA of 4.29. Richard has worked at least six innings in his last 10 outings. However, he lost his last start last week against the Texas Rangers. Chris Bassitt goes for Oakland. Bassitt is 1-3, and his ERA is 2.82. Bassitt beat the Detroit Tigers last Wednesday in Detroit. He went six innings and allowed no runs and just two hits. It was his best performance of the year. On Wednesday, Padres’ righty Eric Lauer will face off against the A’s ace Sean Manaea.

Padre players to keep an eye on will be first baseman Eric Hosmer, shortstop Freddy Galvis, infielders Cory Spangenberg and Christian Villaneuva. Villaneuva is hitting .294 and has 16 home runs and 39 RBIs to his credit. Outfielder Will Myers is off the DL, and the A’s pitchers will have to be careful not to make any mistakes while pitching to him. Other players to keep an eye on are Jose Pirela, Hunter Renfroe, Manuel Margot, and Travis Jankowski.

The A’s beat the Indians two out of three over the weekend and are 10-3 in the last 13 games. The A’s would like to sweep the Padres as they start a 10-game road trip in Cleveland on Friday. They play four in Houston and return to the Bay Area to finish the trip with three games with the San Francisco Giants.

The A’s are in third place in the AL West with a record of 46-39. The team has been playing well, and third baseman Matt Chapman is expected back Tuesday night from the 10-day DL. The A’s have shown that they can overcome deficits in the late innings of any game. They are playing with a lot of confidence. The A’s bullpen has been very good. They are the only team in baseball that has not lost after holding the lead after the seventh inning.

Tuesday’s game will start at 6 pm PDT. There will be a fireworks show after the game. There is nothing better than baseball, apple pie, fireworks, and the Fourth of July.