Tampa Bay Rays (18-15, second in the AL East) vs. Oakland Athletics (19-14, first in the AL West)
Oakland, California; Friday, 9:40 p.m. EDT
PITCHING PROBABLES: Rays: Rich Hill (1-1, 6.40 ERA, 1.22 WHIP, 28 strikeouts) Athletics: Sean Manaea (3-1, 3.48 ERA, 1.22 WHIP, 33 strikeouts)
LINE: Athletics -140, Rays +121; over/under is 8 runs
BOTTOM LINE: The Tampa Bay Rays head to play the Oakland Athletics on Friday.
The Athletics are 11-10 on their home turf. Oakland has hit 43 combined home runs this season, most in the American League. Ramon Laureano leads the team with seven homers.
The Rays are 11-5 on the road. Tampa Bay has slugged .374 this season. Joey Wendle leads the club with a .475 slugging percentage, including 12 extra-base hits.
The Athletics won the last meeting 3-2. Jake Diekman earned his first victory and Matt Chapman went 2-for-4 with a double, a home run and two RBIs for Oakland. Diego Castillo registered his second loss for Tampa Bay.
TOP PERFORMERS: Laureano leads the Athletics with 14 extra base hits and is slugging .517.
Austin Meadows leads the Rays with seven home runs and is batting .202.
LAST 10 GAMES: Athletics: 4-6, .228 batting average, 4.40 ERA, outscored by 12 runs
Rays: 7-3, .228 batting average, 3.20 ERA, outscored opponents by 10 runs
INJURIES: Athletics: J.B. Wendelken: (left oblique), Burch Smith: (groin), Trevor Rosenthal: (chest), A.J. Puk: (left biceps), Jesus Luzardo: (left hand), Chad Pinder: (knee), Aramis Garcia: (illness).
Rays: Michael Wacha: (hamstring), Chaz Roe: (shoulder), Colin Poche: (elbow), Chris Mazza: (right shoulder), Oliver Drake: (forearm), Yonny Chirinos: (elbow), Diego Castillo: (groin), Jalen Beeks: (elbow), Chris Archer: (forearm), Nick Anderson: (elbow), Ji-Man Choi: (knee).
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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.
