Diamondbacks Lineups and Pre Game Notebook with Torey Lovullo

The Oakland A's visit Chase Field for a three games series starting tonight. Lineups, pitching matchups, roster moves, and injuries all covered by the D-backs manager.

Jun 1, 2024; New York City, New York, USA; Arizona Diamondbacks starting pitcher Slade Cecconi (43) follows through on a pitch against the New York Mets during the first inning at Citi Field. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports / Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports

The Arizona Diamondbacks begin a three game series with the Oakland A's tonight at Chase Field. First pitch is at 6:40.

The Diamondbacks are 39-42, in third place in the NL West. The A's are. 29-54, in last place in the AL West. Arizona is 2.5 game back of the third NL Wild Card position, 2.5 games behind the St. Louis Cardinals.

Lineups

A's at Diamondbacks lineups June 28, 2024 / Jack Sommers

Blaze Alexander is in the lineup batting second and will DH for the D-backs, with Eugenio Suarez back in at third base. Corbin Carroll has been dropped down in the lineup due to a lefty being on the mound.

A's DH Brent Rooker is 6 for his last 22, with two doubles and a homer. He's been the A's best hitter this year batting .261 with 14 homers and 45 RBI. Miguel Andujar is batting 7-22, .318 with two doubles over the last week.

Left-hander JP Sears, 4-7, 5.04 ERA will start for the A's. Slade Cecconi, 2-6, 5.74 ERA will be on the mound for the Diamondbacks. For detailed series pitching matchup info, be sure to also check out our Series Preview published this morning.

Roster Move:

Scott McGough was optioned to Triple-A Reno after last night's game. McGough has appeared in 22 games and pitched 27 innings. He has a 1-3 record with a 7.33 ERA. This is the second time this year he's been optioned down to Triple-A

Castellanos has made one prior appearance for the team this year, on June 7th in San Diego. He pitched 2.1 innings and allowed five runs on five hits. In 12 games with the Reno Aces he's 5-1 with a 4.94 ERA in 54 innings.

Lovullo said the main reasoning for the move was due to how many innings the bullpen has had to throw of late due to short outings by starting pitchers. Castellanos is fully stretched out as a starter and can pitch multiple innings if Cecconi has a short outing.

Injury Update

Gabriel Moreno, Sprained Left Thumb: Lovullo confirmed that Moreno is eligible to come off the injured list for the first game of the Dodgers series in Los Angeles next week on July 2nd . Lovullo stopped short of confirming that would be the day he's activated. He will catch a game in the Arizona Complex league on Saturday

Eduardo Rodriguez, Left Shoulder Strain, will have an MRI on his shoulder July 6th. If there are no further issues to show up in that examination he'll pitch on a mound "very very soon after that" Lovullo said. The manager declined to commit to a July return or put any return date for the left-hander however.

Alek Thomas Hamstring Strain: The centerfielder will play for the Reno Aces tonight and Saturday. When asked if Thomas could return for the Dodgers series Lovullo again declined to confirm a date for his return. Asked what boxes still need to be checked after these two games, he said

"Just making sure the legs are healthy and strong, the fatigue factor that we talked about while we were in Philadelphia has not set in, and he feels emotionally ready and physically and fundamentally ready"

Lovullo addressed the questions once again regarding how long it's taken to get these injured players back. He admitted some surprise.

"I thought we'd have all these athletes back by now. We're dealing with it, we're managing it the best way we can. "