SACRAMENTO – (Wire Service Report) – The Athletics’ season has been in a free fall in recent weeks and there is likely no recovering from the latest blow.
The Athletics could learn Monday that All-Star catcher Shea Langeliers requires season-ending knee surgery before they later take the field against the Boston Red Sox at the A’s temporary home in West Sacramento, California. Langeliers reportedly sustained a torn meniscus in his right knee during Friday’s game against the Minnesota Twins and was placed on the 10-day injured list Sunday.
“We’re looking at the situation and making sure that he gets the best advice, the best care and, hopefully, the quickest recovery,” Athletics manager Mark Kotsay said after Sunday’s 11-8 road loss to the Twins.
Langeliers started for the American League in the recent All-Star Game and leads AL catchers in homers (23) and hits (99). This is the fourth straight season in which he has smacked more than 20 homers.
His loss comes at a time in which the A’s have lost 23 of their past 29 games. The Athletics were at .500 on June 19 but now sit 17 games below the mark entering the four-game set against the lava-hot Red Sox.
Boston has won 17 of its last 19 games after Sunday’s 6-1 victory over the visiting Toronto Blue Jays.
The once-floundering team is now in the thick of the AL wild-card chase. The Red Sox are in second place in a race in which only one team below them — the third-place Cleveland Guardians — are above .500.
Jarren Duran helped fuel Sunday’s victory with three singles, two RBIs and one steal.
“I think we’re just settling into ourselves,” Duran told reporters. “Early on, we were still trying to find our identity. I feel like we’re just now coming into what we knew we could be. It’s showing and the boys have bought in since Day One.
“It’s just baseball and we were going through that grind and we’re starting to roll and it’s awesome to see.”
Jahmai Jones contributed a pinch-hit, two-run double as Boston scored at least five runs for the eighth time during an 8-2 homestand.
“We had some really good performances across the board,” Jones said. “I felt like it was a really good team day.”
Boston sends left-hander Payton Tolle (5-6, 3.31 ERA) to the mound in the opener.
Tolle, 23, received a no-decision against the Baltimore Orioles on July 20 when he gave up four runs and eight hits over 5 2/3 innings in a 6-5 A’s win.
Tolle went 0-0 with a 3.60 ERA in two appearances (one start) against the A’s last season.
He served up a homer to Nick Kurtz, who just returned to the A’s lineup on Saturday after a right thumb injury.
On Sunday, in his second game, All-Star first baseman Kurtz drilled a three-run homer against the Twins. He had been in a 0-for-25 funk before the blast, which was his 21st of the season.
Right-hander Jack Perkins (2-5, 6.75) will start for the Athletics for the eighth time this season.
He took a no-decision against the host Arizona Diamondbacks last Tuesday when he gave up three runs and five hits over five innings.
In his previous two turns, Perkins gave up a combined 10 runs and nine hits — including four homers — in just 6 2/3 innings. He lost both outings.
Perkins, 26, has never faced the Red Sox.
–Field Level Media