Well the A’s have dropped the first two games of their series with the Rangers. That’s not only set themselves up to possibly get swept at home this afternoon, but has also guaranteed a season series loss to our Texas rivals. We can still avoid the sweep though with a win today in the home stand finale.

Taking the ball for the Green & Gold this afternoon in Sacramento will be righty JT Ginn, who will be making his 12th start of the season today. Overall on the year the rookie has a 4.96 ERA

Here’s how the A’s lineup stacks up for the finale:

Still no Nick Kurtz after the positive health update yesterday so instead Lawrence Butler will lead things off for the A’s today. He’ll be followed by Jacob Wilson, Brent Rooker and Tyler Soderstrom in the heart of the batting order for the finale. Starting catcher Shea Langeliers gets the last game of the series off after catching all 18 innings of the first two games, with Willie MacIver taking his spot behind the plate. Rookies Carlos Cortes and Colby Thomas will man the outfield corners while Brett Harris takes third base and Zack Gelof hits ninth and playing second.

For the Rangers, they’ll have their ace on the mound when future Hall of Famer Jacob deGrom takes to the hill. The right-hander is having a terrific bounce back season, his first fully healthy campaign in quite some time. He may be hitting a wall here down the stretch as he’s posted a meager 4.15 ERA over his last seven starts, though he’s coming off a string of quality starts so he’s not necessarily slumping coming into this one.

Texas’ starting nine today looks like this:

Time to avoid the home sweep. Let’s go A’s!