Two of the league’s best sluggers face off when the Athletics and St. Louis Cardinals play at Sutter Health Park, at 9:40 p.m. ET on Wednesday. Shea Langeliers has 12 homers (eighth in league) for the Athletics, and Jordan Walker ranks 10th with 11 dingers for the Cardinals. J.T. Ginn (1-1, 3.62 ERA) will start for the Athletics, who are 21-20 this season and first in the AL West. Matthew Liberatore (2-1, 4.07 ERA) is the expected starter for the Cardinals, who are 24-17 and third in the NL Central.
Jacob Wilson: 10 Day IL (Shoulder), Denzel Clarke: 10 Day IL (Foot), Max Muncy: 10 Day IL (Hand), Brooks Kriske: 15 Day IL (Shoulder), Gunnar Hoglund: 60 Day IL (Knee)
Cardinals
Ramón Urías: 10 Day IL (Elbow), Matt Pushard: 15 Day IL (Knee), Lars Nootbaar: 60 Day IL (Heels)
Stats to know
Sacramento’s Langeliers has hit 12 home runs this season, which ranks 8th in MLB. He has also tallied 25 RBIs and has scored 29 runs. In 169 plate appearances, he has recorded a .340 BA, .396 OBP and .641 SLG with an 8.3% walk rate and a 21.9% strikeout rate.
In 185 plate appearances, Nick Kurtz has hit five long balls, tallied 21 RBIs and scored 24 runs. He is batting .260/.416/.425 and has posted a 29.7% strikeout rate and a 21.1% walk rate. Kurtz has recorded five steals on six attempts.
Walker has hit 11 home runs this season, which ranks 10th in MLB. He has also tallied 30 RBIs (7th in MLB) and has scored 32 runs. In 172 plate appearances, he has recorded a .298 BA, .378 OBP and .570 SLG with an 11% walk rate and a 27.9% strikeout rate. He has been effective on the base paths, recording seven steals on 10 attempts.
In 188 plate appearances, JJ Wetherholt has posted a 17.6% strikeout rate and an 11.2% walk rate while slashing .242/.356/.427 with eight home runs, 22 RBIs and 32 runs scored. He has stolen five bases on five attempts.
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But Durham now need to discuss with Stokes how next summer will look, and it will be one of the first tasks for Ryan Campbell in his new role as director of cricket.
The Australian has spent the past four seasons as head coach, and enjoyed having Stokes in the dressing room and part of his team, and he believes that the all-rounder is keen to continue playing county cricket – and the red-ball stuff in particular.
“Yes, I do, I honestly do,” Campbell told BBC Sport in an interview before his new role was announced.
“His love of the game, he talks about his bowling run-up and stuff that he can adapt to county cricket so he can bowl more. The playing, the batting, where he wants to bat, this sort of stuff, he’s all-in I would have thought for the next couple of years at least.”
When Stokes was suspended by the ECB for the second Test in June, it was Durham where he rediscovered his love of the game after the troubles of the Ashes in Australia last winter and the broken curfew post-Lords.
Being in and around the Riverside, singing the Blaydon Races after team victories and helping academy youngsters with practice is something that has not gone unnoticed.
“Ben’s England through-and-through, but he is Durham through-and-through,” said Campbell.
“He loves the club. The proudest thing I’ve ever had in relation to our work was when he said, ‘I want to go back and play at Durham because the time there has been so amazing’. That’s a big rap for our club and our environment that we’ve created.”
Sheedy played his part in the victory in Llanelli before being replaced in the second half by Jarrod Evans, who has returned to Cardiff from Harlequins this season.
With Ioan Lloyd, who is currently injured, also in the Cardiff ranks, head coach Corniel van Zyl has three Wales fly-halves to call on.
“All I can do as a player is try my best and perform the best I can,” said Sheedy.
“We all want to be number one, so how we go about that is going to be challenging because we’re all going to want to play.
“I’m sure it’ll be healthy competition.”
Cardiff return to the Arms Park to face Zebre on Friday night, where they lost only one home game last season.
“It does make a big difference,” said Sheedy.
“Hopefully we get a big crowd because I remember last season there were a lot of close games, and in the last 10 minutes, the crowd got us over the line.
“Corniel speaks a lot about making the Arms Park a fortress and we managed that last season.”
Luke Humphries says he must improve if he is to challenge for a second World Grand Prix title and admits he would have preferred defending champion Luke Littler to have avoided an early exit.
Humphries – the 2023 champion and a runner-up the last two editions of the double-start major – produced a lacklustre performance during his straight-sets victory over Dave Chisnall at the Mattioli Arena.
The world No 2 hit under 27 per cent of his checkout attempts and averaged 80.41, his lowest in the tournament since 2022, although was relieved to avoid joining Littler and Michael van Gerwen in being beaten in the first round.
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Highlights of the World Grand Prix match between Luke Littler and Luke Woodhouse, where the world No 1 made a shock exit
“That’s arguably one of the worst performances I’ve played on the World Grand Prix stage for myself,” Humphries said after the victory. “I didn’t feel comfortable throughout the whole game.
“Doubles weren’t going in at the start, the scoring was rubbish and I felt like Chizzy [Dave Chisnall] just wasn’t at his best there at all.”
“It wasn’t a good performance, but I’m through and when I play Jermaine [Wattimena] on Thursday I’m hoping you won’t see that!”
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Humphries is now the favourite to lift the trophy following defending champion Luke Littler’s shock defeat to Luke Woodhouse, but admits he feels added pressure with the world No 1 no longer in the field as a title contender.
“I hate it when he loses because it always puts the pressure on myself and then everyone is like ‘this is yours to win’ and all this type of stuff,” Humphries added.
“I hate it when he loses because I want to play him in finals. I want to beat him in finals. I don’t want to lose to him in finals, but I like playing in finals because it gets me up for it.
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John Part reflects on Luke Littler’s early exit at the World Grand Prix and explains the possible reasons behind it
“When he loses, I’m not like jumping for joy. It puts all the pressure on myself and maybe sometimes it doesn’t help me.
“I’d rather him still be in the tournament and be the favourite and then I can just backdoor it to the final!”
Humphries’ 2023 win was his maiden PDC-ranked TV title and sparked a dominant run to end the season, but ‘Cool Hand’ has since suffered a string of runner-up finishes in major tournaments following his World Masters and Premier League triumphs last year.
Image: Humphries blamed an allergic reaction for the mark on his face
“I feel like I deserve a major – it’s been like six or seven I’ve lost in the final,” Humphries explained. “I played really good in the Premier League final and the World Masters final – I played 105 averages and lost, so they are tough to take.
“If you just play anybody else in the world they’re probably not going to beat you, but when you’re playing a phenom like Luke [Littler], he can beat you. I feel like I deserve one, but sometimes you don’t always get what you deserve in life.
“It’s up to me to win another four games and perform a lot better than that, because if I perform that again, I’ll be very lucky to make it to the quarters and semis.”
Image: Humphries is looking to reach the World Grand Prix final for a fourth consecutive season
Humphries explains face ‘injury’: ‘I don’t have that great story!’
The former world champion sparked confusion on social media after taking to the stage with a noticeable scab on his head, but felt no ill-effects from it as he progressed to the last 16.
“I really wanted to bring up some amazing story about how I fought five guys off and they come off worse than me, but unfortunately I don’t have that great story,” Humphries said.
Image: Humphries blamed an allergic reaction for the mark on his face
“I did Bullseye filming on Tuesday, woke up Wednesday with a massive rash on the side of my head and it just got worse and worse and then it scabbed over.
“The only thing I can think of is when you do TV shows they put make up on and all these types of things, all these creams, and I got an allergic reaction to it.
“Unfortunately there is no great story to tell, that is what I think it is but I don’t know. I haven’t seen a doctor but it just looks like I’ve had an allergic reaction to stuff they’ve put on my head and face, but I’m fully well.”
