Before Tuesday's game, A's manager Mark Kotsay confirmed that last year's lone All Star, Paul Blackburn, would be starting for the Low-A Stockton Ports on Friday night.
The plan for Blackburn's rehab is to have him at a full workload (90 pitches) before he re-joins the A's rotation. The righty will be on a 35 pitch limit in his outing on Friday, with the hope that he's able to complete two innings.
Carlos Pérez will be getting his first start not only of the season, but his first start in the big-leagues since September 30, 2018 with the Texas Rangers. The 32-year-old backstop has one pinch-hit at-bat this season, collecting his first hit in the Majors since 2018. After he got that hit, he said "I was ready for that moment."
Ahead of his first start in five years, Pérez said he is excited and that he's going to treat this game like a regular game. He has caught a couple of bullpens with Tuesday's starter, JP Sears.
Kotsay said that he wanted to keep the duo of Opening Night starter Kyle Muller and catcher Shea Langeliers together. With Tuesday's night game followed by Wednesday's day game, Langeliers was presumably due for a day off in one of those games.
Ryan Noda gets the start at first base for the second night in a row after going 2-for-5 on Monday, collecting his first two hits at the big-league level.
Tonight's lineup against the Cleveland Guardians, who will send Shane Bieber to the mound:
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