Game #15 A’s at Mets Game Thread

At the start of the Athletics weeklong trip to New York City to play the New York Yankees and Mets, few thought the team would walk away with two series wins. The A’s have proved doubters wrong as they enter today’s series finale against the Mets with a chance to sweep their first series of the season and finish their time in “The Big Apple” with five wins in six games. Yesterday, the A’s finally snapped their multi-game home run drought.

By doing so, the team introduced its new home run celebration, a cool but somewhat creepy looking elephant mask and gold chain featuring an elephant’s head. Left fielder Tyler Soderstrom donned the mask twice, his second home run coming at a critical moment in the game. The Mets had scored five unanswered to cut the A’s lead from 7-1 to 7-6.

In the eighth inning, with the game’s momentum firmly on the hosts side, Soderstrom hit a three-run home run to right-center, his blast all but sealing the A’s series-clinching victory. Right-hander Aaron Civale will be on the mound today as the A’s vie for the sweep. Through two starts, Civale (1-0, 2.

70 ERA) has been the solid veteran pitcher the A’s needed. He does not throw hard, yet he moves the baseball around and gets batters out. Having gone five innings in each of his first two starts, the A’s would love for him to pitch at least that many innings today against a reeling but talented Mets lineup.