Inside: Jesus Luzardo to start Game 3.
In their quest to continue on in the postseason, the Oakland Athletics are turning to rookie Jesús Luzardo, a team spokesperson confirmed Tuesday night.
A’s manager Bob Melvin will trust the young lefty with starting Game 3 of their best-of-five series against the Houston Astros, who hold a 2-0 lead and can clinch with a win today after defeating Oakland 5-2 on Tuesday.
Luzardo last pitched in the A’s wild- card series opener against the Chicago White Sox on Sept. 29. He struggled in that game, if only because he left two middle-middle fastballs over the plate that the White Sox belted for home runs. The rookie went 3 1/3 innings and gave up three runs. He was saddled with the loss pitching against Lucas Giolito, who took a perfect game into the seventh inning.
Luzardo did well in two starts against the Astros in the regular season, allowing four earned runs over 12 2/3 innings, including a seveninning, seven-strikeout performance in a 3-2 win Sept. 9.
The loss last week is not the entirety of Luzardo’s postseason experience, despite his status as a rookie. He pitched in the wild-card game last year, going three scoreless innings to keep the A’s within striking distance before they eventually lost to the Tampa Bay Rays.
Luzardo has also thrown at Dodger Stadium this year:
He took over in the sixth inning of a Sept. 24 in a 5-1 loss to the Dodgers, and gave up three runs over three innings.
Astros manager Dusty Baker named Jose Urquidy as Houston’s Game 3 starter shortly after Game 2.
Urquidy, a 25-year- old Mexican national who made his MLB debut just last July, got the nod over established
veteran and former All-Star Zack Greinke. Baker said Greinke has been dealing with soreness in his arm and is being evaluated by a doctor.
BALL IS FLYING OUT OF THE YARD >>
Another day game, another bunch of early-afternoon home runs at Dodger Stadium.
In the first half of Game 2 of the Athletics’ Ameri
can League Division Series against the Houston Astros in Los Angeles, there were five home runs between the teams, including a back-toback pair from the Astros’ Martin Maldonado and George Springer in the top of the fifth inning.
A’s starting pitcher Sean Manaea was pulled from the game in between the backto-back home runs after giv
ing up his second of the day. Springer crushed Yusmeiro Petit’s first pitch in relief of Manaea over the left-field bleachers and onto the concourse.
It was the last run scored Tuesday and marked the second straight day of five home runs in the first five innings in this series. Through two games, only one ball has exited the yard in the sixth inning or later — a Carlos Correa solo shot in the seventh inning on Monday.
Six of Tuesday’s seven runs came via the long ball, and for the second straight day an Astro has recorded a pair of home runs — Carlos Correa did it in Game 1, while Springer’s fifth-inning shot was his second of the game.
A’s designated hitter Khris Davis has a home run in both games, and third baseman Chad Pinder mimicked Davis’ Monday shot with a right-handed opposite-field home run to narrow the A’s deficit to 3-2 in the fourth inning Tuesday.
“You hit it halfway good and, you know, it’s going to go out,” A’s manager Bob Melvin said postgame Monday. “Typically it does play a little smaller in the daytime here, but last time we played here at night, it played small too.”
In 2017, the Astros and Dodgers combined for a World Series-record 25 home runs, including 14 in the four games at Dodger Stadium. None of those were day games.
Springer hit five homers in that World Series, including three at Dodger Stadium, and was named MVP. IN A BIND >> Only eight teams in Major League Baseball history have overcome a 2- 0 deficit to win a best-offive playoff series: The New York Yankees in 2017 and 2001, Toronto Blue Jays in 2015, San Francisco Giants in 2012, Boston Red Sox in 2003 and 1999, Seattle Mariners in 1995 and Los Angeles Dodgers in 1981.