Many baseball fans regard a scoring festival as the best thing that could happen in a match, but there are just as many who appreciate a top quality pitchers’ duel. This is exactly what we are expecting in Oakland as the local team faces Tampa Bay and both clubs send in players that ride long winning streaks. The stakes couldn’t be higher, because both the A’s and the Rays are trying to consolidate their position and make the playoffs by securing a wildcard.
None of the teams completely forsake the idea of winning their divisions, but with the Red Sox and Rangers flying high it is hard to believe that an opportunity will arise in the remaining months. Meanwhile, Oakland is happy to give the ball to Jarrod Parker who hasn’t lost a game in more than three months and allowed fewer than three runs per game since May. He lasted eight innings in the last three games and luckily for him relievers didn’t disappoint and protected the lead inherited from Jarrod.
The A’s are not a traditionally high-scoring team but with such a starting pitcher on the mound they won’t need a lot of runs to win the opening game against Tampa Bay. On the other hand, any runs scored early in the game will carry extra weight, because the visitors have an invincible pitcher of their own. David Price won five out of his last eight starts, in the other three games being deprived of a win simply because his teammates were awful offensively.
Predicting the winner is not an easy task, but the guys at http://data.nowgoal.com/baseball/17158.html seem to have figured it out by indicating Oakland as the victor. Another option for punters would be to wager on the number of runs scored, but then again the line is set at 6.5 which makes this particular bet a tricky one. Past performance doesn’t provide us with too many hints about what could happen tonight, because despite Parker losing to Tampa Bay, he surrendered a single run.
David Price faced Oakland six times but got a decision just three times and recent results are a bit worrisome. Los Angeles Angels made short work of the Rays yesterday with Tampa going 0-8 with runners in scoring position and went down by two runs to none. Their away from home record is equally disappointing, as the Rays lost 7/9 and have a losing record at the Coliseum.