September 3rd Game #139 Preview: Angels @ A’s

Angels (65-73) @ Athletics (78-58)

In the grand scheme of things, these next 3 games don’t matter much for the Angels who are all but eliminated from the playoffs. However, these games mean A LOT for the A’s who are fighting with the Rays and Indians for one of those two coveted wild card spot.

The Angels have won 5 of 14 games against the A’s last last and dropped their last 3 to the A’s in Anaheim. Not surprisingly, the games the Angels have won were all higher scoring for them with 6, 6, 12, 10, an 8 runs scored.

GAME 1

(R) Jaime Barria (6.10 ERA) v. (R) Mike Fiers (3.40)
Tuesday, Sep 3rd @ 7:07PM

Summary:

Jaime Barria faced the As just once this year back on June 6th. He allowed only 1 run on 3 hits over 5 innings. He also faced the A’s last September, holding them hitless and scoreless over 4.2 innings. Barria also has an ERA of 3.56 over his last two starts against the Rangers and Astros - so things are looking up for this start.

Remember just now when I said things were looking up? Perhaps that’s true for Barria, but the Angels offense will have their work cut out for them. The Angels have scored only 3 runs over 18.2 innings against Fiers this year. Aside from a 5 run blip against the Astros in mid August, Fiers hasn’t allowed more than 3 runs in a start since April 20th.

Current Standings

Notes/Credits:
(Standings/odds from fivethirtyeight.com)