Tonight at 10:05 p.m. ET, the Oakland Athletics (78-55) and Los Angeles Angels (80-53) continue their four-game set with Game 2 live from Angel Stadium of Anaheim. The game can be live streamed here. Oakland fans can hear all of the action on 95.7 The Game while Los Angeles fans can do the same on KLAA 830.
This series has huge implications on the American League West division race as The Angels hold a two-game lead over the Athletics after winning the opening game of this series 4-3 with a walk-off triumph in the 10th inning Thursday night. The A's own the top wild-card spot in the AL.
Oakland continues a seven-game road trip it is currently 2-2 on while Los Angeles searches for its fourth straight win as it continues a seven-game homestand it has a 3-1 mark on thus far.
Jon Lester (3-1, 2.50 ERA with A's; 13-8, 2.53 ERA overall) takes the ball for the Athletics while the Angels counter with Jered Weaver, who is 14-7 with a 3.72 ERA.
Lester held the Angels to one run in seven innings in a 2-1 victory for the Athletics in the middle tilt of a three-game set at the O.co Coliseum in Oakland last weekend and will look for another solid performance to get the A's closer to the top of the division.
"No matter what type of expectation, or anything else that people put on me, I'm sure it's not going to be as high as what I put on myself," Lester, who is fifth in the league in ERA, said after his last outing, according to MLB.com. "I expect myself to go out there every time and throw nine shutout [innings]."
Lester faces an Angels lineup that is led by AL MVP candidate and outfielder Mike Trout who leads the MLB with 284 total bases this season. Trout is second in the AL in RBI (94-tied), runs (91) and slugging percentage (.561), third in doubles (35) and OPS (.938), and fourth in homers (30-tied) and walks (69).
Albert Pujols has been having a bounce-back year for Los Angeles, boasting a .276 batting average while ranking second on the team with 23 homers and 81 RBI.
Weaver, who is 1-2 with a 6.00 ERA against Oakland this season, held the A's to three runs in the Angels lone win in last weekend's series, a 9-4 triumph last Sunday. Weaver aims for win No. 15 this season despite struggling for the most part since the All-Star break.
"What we need to [do] is pretty simple," Angels manager Mike Scioscia told MLB.com. "You want to avoid that distraction of putting too much weight on everything you do. ... You don't want to try to hit a ball 430 feet when you can only hit it 410 feet."
Weaver and the Angels try to shut down an A's lineup that is led by third baseman Josh Donaldson, who is fifth in the league with 81 runs scored and leads Oakland with 26 homers and 88 RBI. First baseman Brandon Moss is right behind Donaldson with 23 homers and 76 RBI, ranking second on the team in both categories.
The battle for AL West supremacy continues when the A's and Angels take the field tonight at Angel Stadium in Los Angeles.
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