Indians vs. Athletics Pick
Can the Cleveland Indians avoid being swept by the lowly Oakland Athletics when the two meet up this afternoon at 4:05PM ET?
According to oddsmakers at Bovada.lv, Cleveland is favored on the road, as the Indians are getting odds of -120 to win, while the Athletics are listed with a money line of +100 to prevail. The over/under total for the game has been set at 8.5 runs.
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The pitching matchup for today has Trevor Bauer (7-7, 5.24 ERA) on the mound for Cleveland to face Sean Manaea (7-5, 3.76) of the Athletics. Bauer has had a rough season, but he is trying to dig himself out of the hole. His recent starts have shown improvement. On the year, Bauer has 103 strikeouts with 34 walks and a 1.41 WHIP. Manaea has arguably been Oakland’s best pitcher this season. He has allowed three runs or less in nine of his last 10 starts and has 93 strikeouts on the year with 34 walks and a 1.21 WHIP.
Oakland has won the first two games in this series, picking up a 5-0 win on Friday and a 5-3 win on Saturday. The Athletics are now 41-50 overall and 26-21 at home while Cleveland is 47-42 overall and 26-18 on the road.
Saturday’s game saw the Athletics rally late against the Cleveland bullpen. The Athletics put up three runs over the final two innings to grab the win. The game concluded on a two-run home run from Khris Davis, which was his 25th of the season. Matt Chapman added three hits, three runs and two RBI. The Oakland bullpen pitched three perfect innings to bail out Paul Blackburn, who was in line to take the loss when he exited after six innings. Corey Kluber had a 7.1-inning start see no result as he allowed three runs with 12 strikeouts.
Oakland has managed to shock Cleveland in the first two games of this series. The Indians looked flat on Friday and then were just bested on the mound on Saturday. Look for more of the same on Sunday. Manaea has been consistent on the mound all season while Bauer has a 5.90 ERA in his road starts this season. Cleveland hasn’t had much hitting to count on in this series, so the Athletics won’t need much to get the win.
MLB DAILY PREDICTION: OAKLAND ATHLETICS +100