Upton providing spark for Los Angeles

Los Angeles Angels (74-76, fourth in AL West) vs. Oakland Athletics (90-60, second in AL West)

Oakland, California; Tuesday, 10:05 p.m. Eastern

PROBABLE PITCHERS: Angels: Tyler Skaggs (8-8, 3.78 ERA, 1.31 WHIP, 123 strikeouts) Athletics: Liam Hendriks (0-1, 5.60 ERA, 1.70 WHIP, 17 strikeouts)

BOTTOM LINE: Los Angeles has Justin Upton to thank for a chunk of the team’s offensive production over the last week. He’s batting .350 with seven hits and four home runs in that span. The Athletics are 2-3 in Hendriks’ starts this year. Oakland’s lineup has 205 home runs this year, led by Khris Davis’ mark of 43. The Angels have gone 31-33 against the rest of their division. Los Angeles’ lineup is slugging .416 on the season, Mike Trout paces the team with a mark of .625. In their last meeting on Aug. 12, Fernando Rodney earned the win in an 8-7 victory for the A’s.

TOP PERFORMERS: Andrelton Simmons has 153 hits for the Angels this year. His .295 batting average is 12th in the American League. Jose Fernandez has a .257 batting average, nine hits and two home runs over his past 10 games for Los Angeles. Marcus Semien has 152 hits for the A’s this season. He’s batting .258 on the year. Matt Olson has three home runs and nine RBIs while slugging .706 over his past 10 games for Oakland.

LAST 10 GAMES: Angels: 6-4, .239 batting average, 3.20 ERA, outscored opponents by seven runs. Athletics: 7-3, .262 batting average, 3.58 ERA, outscored opponents by 23 runs.

___

The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by HERO Sports, and data from Sportradar.