Oakland A's Trying to Catch Texas as Bartolo Colon Hopes to Rebound vs. Angels

It is halfway through May and the Oakland A's are only four games out of first place in the AL West with a 19-17 record. They trail the Texas Rangers who are proving to be one of the best teams in baseball.

The team that many believed would challenge the Rangers for the division sits in last place and are the A's current opponents. 

The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim are having a rough season and have a 15-21 record entering the second game of the series against the A's. 

The A's can help to keep themselves close to the Rangers as well as bury the Angels a bit deeper with another victory on Tuesday night. The A's will send Bartolo Colon to the mound to take on the Angels lineup that was successfully shut out on Monday evening.

Colon is coming off his worst outing of the year against the Detroit Tigers in which he only lasted 2.1 innings while allowing seven earned runs and nine hits.

Colon could not have asked for a better matchup to get back on track.

He pitched arguably his best game of the season against the Angels in Anaheim when he pitched eight shutout innings of four hit ball. He struck out five and did not walk a batter in that outing in April.

Colon would love to rebound from his previous outing and try to keep the Angels at bay and in last place in the division. 

The A's have enjoyed impressive success in their last four games against the Angels. After dropping their first matchup of the season, the A's have won the last four meetings while outscoring the Halos 20-5. 

If Colon has a solid outing and shuts down the potent but slumping Angels offense, then the A's will be one step closer to the top of the division.

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