Minor, Blackburn Will Start Doubleheader, but Athletics Won't Name Playoff Starters
Bob Melvin has settled on his starting pitching for this weekend, but the Oakland A’s manager hasn’t yet put forth the names of his starters for the playoffs that begin Tuesday in the Coliseum.
Melvin said Friday afternoon that left-handed Mike Minor will start the first game of Saturday’s doubleheader and that Paul Blackburn would get the start, his first appearance of the year for Oakland, in Saturday’s second game.
Frankie Montas is down to start Sunday’s final game of the regular season. Chris Bassitt has long since been scheduled for Friday’s start
Beyond that, is seems evident that the A’s won’t announce their rotation until they know who they will be playing. They’re most likely to face the Houston Astros, but the Cleveland Indians and Chicago White Sox also are possibilities.
“Certainly the opponent has something to do with it, too,” Melvin said. “But we do have guys liked up to be flexible on how we deploy.”
That flexibility became evident Thursday when Melvin had Jesús Luzardo pitch the final three innings, finishing up for Mike Fiers in what turned out to be a 5-1 loss to the Dodgers in Los Angeles.
The A’s have gone out of their way not to have Fiers pitch against his old team this year. He pitched for the Astros in 2017 and won a World Series ring with them, but he brought that team into infamy by revealing over the winter the club’s sign-stealing scandal.
Luzardo, meanwhile, has pitched twice against the Astros this year and Oakland is 2-0 in those game.
It seems like one of those two would pitch the second game of the wild card series after Sean Manaea starts the opener, but Melvin won’t even go that far.
The 26-year-old Blackburn spent the season at the club’s alternate site, and he’s been working out with about a dozen of the players from that camp since the San Jose site was shut down.
Melvin said Blackburn’s ability to give four or five innings earned him the start and “Paul Blackburn will be our guy.”
Minor pitched the second game of a doubleheader on Sept. 14 and threw a complete-game, seven-inning shutout, his best performance since the A’s added him at the trade deadline from Texas.
His last time out he allowed six runs in five innings against the Giants last Sunday.
Follow Athletics insider John Hickey on Twitter: @JHickey3
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