Kikuchi expected to start as Seattle hosts Oakland

Oakland Athletics (56-42, second in the AL West) vs. Seattle Mariners (51-46, third in the AL West)

Seattle; Friday, 10:10 p.m. EDT

PITCHING PROBABLES: Athletics: Frankie Montas (8-8, 4.33 ERA, 1.29 WHIP, 112 strikeouts) Mariners: Yusei Kikuchi (6-5, 3.83 ERA, 1.12 WHIP, 105 strikeouts)

LINE: Mariners -103, Athletics -114; over/under is 8 runs

BOTTOM LINE: Matt Olson and the Athletics will take on the Mariners Friday.

The Mariners are 29-21 in home games in 2020. Seattle has a collective batting average of .217 this season, led by Ty France with an average of .273.

The Athletics are 26-18 on the road. Oakland has slugged .404 this season. Matt Olson leads the team with a .583 slugging percentage, including 48 extra-base hits and 25 home runs.

The Athletics won the last meeting 4-1. Sean Manaea secured his seventh victory and Ramon Laureano went 2-for-5 with two RBI for Oakland. Chris Flexen registered his fourth loss for Seattle.

TOP PERFORMERS: Mitch Haniger leads the Mariners with 59 RBI and is batting .260.

Olson leads the Athletics with 96 hits and is batting .288.

LAST 10 GAMES: Mariners: 6-4, .223 batting average, 3.89 ERA, outscored by one run

Athletics: 7-3, .234 batting average, 1.98 ERA, outscored opponents by 17 runs

INJURIES: Mariners: Justus Sheffield: (undisclosed), Casey Sadler: (shoulder), James Paxton: (left forearm), Ljay Newsome: (elbow), Andres Munoz: (elbow), Nick Margevicius: (shoulder), Ken Giles: (elbow), Justin Dunn: (shoulder), Kyle Lewis: (knee), Sam Haggerty: (shoulder), Jake Fraley: (illness), Evan White: (hip).

Athletics: Trevor Rosenthal: (chest), Mike Fiers: (right elbow), Chad Pinder: (hamstring).

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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.