Can the Angels Rebound Behind Walbert Urena and Beat the A's Tonight?

Fresh of a three game sweep at the hands of their crosstown rivals, the Angels will turn to promising youngster Walbert Urena as they try to get back on the winning track. It will not come easy as the Athletics have a promising youngster of their own on the hill and a really solid lineup.

Here's what you need to know:

May 18th Angels vs. A's

This will be the 1046th time these two franchises play each other. The A's enter the series with a 545-500 advantage in the win column. The teams have yet to play each other this season.

Sacramento enters the game at an even 23 and 23. Over their last 10 games they are also an even 5 and 5. However, they are a bit better on the road where they have gone 13-11. Currently on a 2 game losing streak, the A's are also looking to rebound after losing their Rivalry Weekend set against the Dodgers.

Walbert Urena squares off against J.T. Ginn

Urena has a lot of promise and is coming off three consecutive starts in which he has gone 5 or more innings while giving up 2 or fewer runs. The issue here is that in 2 of those outings he only went 5 innings. For an Angels bullpen that was taxed heavily over the weekend, Urena needs to get deeper into games.

On the year Walbert Urena is sporting a very nice 3.29 ERA with 26 strikeouts in 27.1 innings.

The A's have a very talented young hurler in J.T. Ginn on the mound. Entering his prime at age 26, Ginn has thrown 43.1 innings across 7 starts and 3 relief appearances. In his last two starts he has thrown 14 innings and allowed only 1 earned run. Those came against Philadelphia and St. Louis.

Mike Trout has crushed the A's in his career.

A familiar refrain, the future Hall of Famer is the Angels best chance for offensive fireworks tonight. In 141 games against the A's, Mike Trout carries a slash line of .293/.407/.569 with 41 home runs. He has 141 hits against the A's.

Zach Neto and Jo Adell both have had big moments against the A's as well.

Shea Langeliers and Brent Rooker do a lot of damage againt the Angels.

Not a huge surprise here for Brent Rooker who is one of the better hitters in the league. His barrel rate of 15.7% against the Halos proves that Angels pitchers do not fool him. When a good hitter barrels up the ball it goes a long way and Rooker has several home runs and doubles against the Angels in his career.

Langeliers is torching everybody right now. His .337 batting average and .609 slugging percentage are unreal for a catcher. He is hitting second tonight and poses an early power threat.

Is Josh Lowe finally turning a corner?

Here is an interesting wild card. Yes, Josh Lowe's overall numbers are still abysmal but in 8 games in the month of May, Josh Lowe is 6 for 20 with a walk. That is a nice and tidy .300 average over a small sample size.

Who breaks their losing streak?

It seems the Angels and A's always play close games. Given the Angels lack of offense and less than stellar bullpen that favors the deeper A's. Mike Trout is due for a Mike Trout game, though. He has not hit a bomb since May 5th against the White Sox and has to be motivated to bounce back from this weekend.

Then again, Rooker is hitting far worse than normal and is also due for a breakout. The Angels can win, but I think the A's edge a close one.

Game time is 6:30 PM on Angels.TV and Angels Broadcast Television

Tune in on your regular Angels channel or through the Angels.TV app to see how the action unfolds.

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