SoCal MLB Preview

Oakland (45-38) at LA Angels (50-34), 12:35 pm

ANAHEIM, California (Ticker) -- Joe Saunders may have started showing some weaknesses after his quick start, but the American League West has yet to figure him out. Saunders will try to become the first 12-game winner in the AL on Wednesday as the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim meet the Oakland Athletics in the rubber match of their three-game series. Despite falling off a bit since his 6-0 start to the season, Saunders (11-4, 3.06 ERA) has been flawless against divisional foes, winning all four of his starts. In addition to his strong showing inside the division, the lefthander has yet to lose two consecutive starts, a trend Oakland show be aware of after Saunders surrendered three runs - two earned - and five hits over five innings in a 6-0 loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers on Friday. Saunders would like a repeat performance from his offense after Tuesday's 5-3 win over the A's, a drastic departure from the team that scored a total of two runs in losing three of its four previous games, starting with Friday's loss. Oakland will counter with Dana Eveland (6-5, 3.34), who is unbeaten over his last three outings. The lefthander allowed just one run and five hits over 7 1/3 innings, striking out three while forcing 13 groundball outs to collect the win in a 4-1 victory over San Francisco on Friday.

LA Dodgers (39-44) at Houston (40-44), 5:05 pm

OUSTON (Ticker) -- After their slumbering offense awoke Tuesday, the Los Angeles Dodgers will try to keep that momentum going as they welcome back Hiroki Kuroda. Kuroda will make his return from the disabled list Wednesday as the Dodgers continue their four-game set with the Houston Astros. A week after his last start in which he surrendered six runs and five hits with four walks over just 2 1/3 innings in a 9-0 loss at San Diego, Kuroda (3-6, 4.04 ERA) went on the DL on June 19 with right shoulder tendinitis. It was a quick and disappointing turn for the Japanese righthander, who had struck out a career-high 11 in a 3-0 win over the Cubs in his previous start. Los Angeles will attempt to provide the same type of offense to Kuroda that it did for rookie Clayton Kershaw on Tuesday. The Dodgers provided their lefthander with an early five-run lead before watching the Astros tie the game late. However, Jeff Kent provided the go-ahead run in the 11th with a solo homer in the 7-6 win. Tuesday's run output was the team's most in nearly two weeks and halted a stretch in which it scored more than one run just twice in its last seven contests. The Astros will counter with Runelvys Hernandez (0-1, 5.40), who will be making his second start in place of Shawn Chacon, who was waived by the team one day after he got into a physical confrontation with general manager Ed Wade. The righthander took the loss after permitting three runs and five hits over five frames in Friday's 6-1 setback to Boston.