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Hello everyone! It's been just a little over 12 hours since the end of last night's (this morning's) loss in extra extra innings against the Oaklant Athletics. Of course, after the game we learned that prospect Adeiny Hechavarria and Las Vegas 51s teammate Jesse Chavez were taking a flight to Oakland--I just hope that they remembered to take the left turn in Albuquerque.
The lineups for today's game have not been released at the time of writing, but there is a good chance that Brett Lawrie and Colby Rasmus would be sitting this game out, after their respective injuries in last night's game. They do not appear to be serious, and both are listed as day-to-day. I would expect that we will see an outfield of Rajai Davis in left, Anthony Gose in centre, and Moises Sierra in right. The infield would likely be filled with David Cooper at first, Kelly Johnson at second, and an all-Cuban left side with Yunel Escobar at short and Hechavarria at third. Hechavarria has played the vast majority of his minor league career at shortstop, with a sprinking of games at second base. This afternoon he will make his Major League debut at a position he has never played before in his professional career.
On the hill for the Jays will be lefty Ricky Romero. As you may remember (or have tried to forget), Romero had the worst start of his career against these very A's last week. He gave up 8 runs on 4 hits and 6 walks over 1.1 innings, with Toronto eventually losing 16-0. Romero is definitely looking for redemption tonight, and I wish him the absolute best. He faced the Mariners in his last start, going 6 innings giving up just 3 earned and striking out 7, but on 8 hits and 2 walks.
Pitching against the Blue Jays will be A.J. Griffin--the 24-year old rookie starting pitcher will be making his 8th career start this afternoon. He was the winner in the 16-0 game, 3-hitting the Jays over 6 shutout innings with 9 strikeouts. He was a little more human against the Tampa Bay Rays in his last start, allowing 5 hits and 3 whole runs over 7 innings. The A's are 6-1 as a team when Griffin starts the game on the bump. Griffin did not face the Las Vegas 51s this season.
Seven players on today's 25-man roster who were also Las Vegas 51s this season: David Cooper, Jesse Chavez, Anthony Gose, Adeiny Hechavarria, Yan Gomes, Aaron Laffey, and Moises Sierra.