First pitch is 6:40 PM PT at Sutter Health Park, and both starters are still TBD heading into the series opener. The Angels are dealing with rotation noise — Jose Soriano is on the day-to-day list even after a 5-inning shutout win over Tampa, and Grayson Rodriguez exited Sunday in the 3rd with lower-back tightness. Whatever the A's get from the Halos' staff in this opener, it likely isn't going to be either of those two at full strength. The framing here is two teams playing their best baseball in months running straight at each other. The Angels (29-43) just took 4 of 5 — including an 8-0 punchout of the Rays — before dropping the finale. The Athletics (35-36) reeled off 4 straight in their Las Vegas Ballpark detour against Milwaukee and Colorado, then ran into a 101-degree afternoon and a Rockies offense that set a franchise record for runs in a 23-9 dismantling. Now they come home to Sacramento and try to pretend that didn't happen. That A's loss is the kind of thing that lingers if you let it. Lawrence Butler still had 3 hits and Zack Gelof pushed his hitting streak to 18 games, so the bats aren't broken — but they're also without Brent Rooker, who is parked on the 10-day IL with a bone bruise in his left knee. Losing that middle-of-the-order thump matters against a Halos lineup that has actually been pitching reasonably well during this run. The Angels' injury sheet is the longer of the two and the reason 29-43 isn't shocking. Travis d'Arnaud, Yusei Kikuchi, Ben Joyce, Anthony Rendon, Jorge Soler, Adam Frazier — that's a starting catcher, a rotation arm, a high-leverage reliever, a corner bat, a DH, and a middle infielder, all unavailable. The fact that this group just ripped off 4 wins in a row says something about how the younger pieces are playing right now. It also says something about Tampa Bay, but let's give the Halos the moment. For the A's, Sutter Health Park has been a forgiving home all year and the schedule is finally letting them stack winnable games. Beat the Angels in this series opener and they're back at .500 with a soft-ish run on deck. Lose it and the Vegas finale starts looking less like a fluke and more like a trend. Thursday's the gut-check spot.