The Oakland Athletics will try to avoid a sweep Sunday morning when they wrap up a three-game series in Houston against the Astros. The A’s dropped Friday’s opener 5-1 and then fell again Saturday 3-2 despite a good outing from JP Sears. James Kaprielian will start for Oakland in the finale against tough Astros lefty Framber Valdez.
Drew Rucinski was originally slated to start Sunday, but he was placed on the 15-day injured list Saturday with a stomach illness which opened the door again for Kaprielian. Kaprielian began the season in the rotation, but struggled and was eventually moved to the bullpen and then back to Triple A.