Game 128: A’s @ Twins

Time: 7:10 Central. Vegas Line: -125 OAK / MIN +115

Weather: Fall Is Coming, Start Temp 65°

Opponent’s Nice SB Site: Athletics Nation

TV: FSN. Radio: Cheaper than buying tickets

Today’s A’s starter, Indiana native Sean Manaea, has his nicknames on BRef listed as “Baby Giraffe” and “The Kid.” This is logical, as he looks much younger than his actual age of 26. For some reason, though, his uniform nickname for this weekend is “MANAEALATOR,” which is kinda fun.

He’s thrown a no-hitter this season and gotten clobbered once or twice, but generally is more good than bad. He throws a slow fastball with major movement, a slider and change. Lineups:

Oakland Athletics: Nick Martini (LF), Matt Chapman (3B), Jed Lowrie (2B), Khris Davis (DH), Matt Olson (1B), Stephen Piscotty (RF), Marcus Semien (SS), Mark Canha (CF), Jonathan Lucroy (C)

@Twins

I’ll admit, I put the nicknames in just to be annoying. You should be able to figure out who’s who, though. The only ones I couldn’t get were 1B (Tyler Austin), CF (Kepler), and SS (Polanco). “Odo” is not the “Deep Space Nine” character.

Oakland is currently 1.5 GB Houston for the division lead and 4 GB New York for the top wildcard spot.