Athletics vs. Red Sox Pick
The Oakland Athletics and the host Boston Red Sox continue their series Wednesday night at 7:00PM EST.
Oddsmakers at sports book Bovada.lv have made the Red Sox a -205 favorite to win on the moneyline. The Athletics are a +175 underdog and the over-under is set at 9.5. Boston is -115 on the -1.5 runline and Oakland is also -115 on the +1.5 RL.
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Pitching for Oakland will be Jharel Cotton (7-10, 5.82 ERA), while Boston counters with Doug Fister (5-7, 3.91). Cotton has a 1.48 WHIP with 96 strikeouts in 119 innings. He surrendered seven earned runs on seven hits with four strikeouts and three walks over five innings in a 9-8 home win over the Astros his last start. Cotton has a 3.81 ERA in 10 road starts. Fister has a 1.28 WHIP with 65 strikeouts in 73 2/3 innings. He allowed one earned run on four hits with nine strikeouts and three walks over seven innings in a 6-1 home win over the Blue Jays. Fister has a 4.17 home ERA in 45 1/3 innings.
The Athletics are 63-80 overall and 21-47 on the road, while the Red Sox are 81-62 at 44-27 at home. Oakland leads the season series 3-2 and the total has gone over four times.
Boston rolled to an 11-1 victory Tuesday night as Mookie Betts was 3-for-5 with two home runs and six RBIs to key the offense. Dustin Pedroia went 3-for-4 with two runs and an RBI. Chris Young finished 2-for-5 with a run. Xander Bogaerts finished 3-for-3 with a double, a walk, two runs and an RBI. Christian Vazquez was 2-for-4 with a double, two runs and two RBIs. Eduardo Rodriguez gave up one earned run on one hit with nine strikeouts and four walks over six innings to get the win. Jed Lowrie had an RBI double and drew a walk for the Athletics. Sean Manaea allowed seven earned runs in 3 2/3 innings to take the loss.
Oakland is dreadful on the road and a cross country trip to Boston didn’t do it any favors in the season opener. Fister will provide a different look than Rodriguez, but the results might be the same with the way he’s pitched lately. Cotton was in good form for a while until his last start, which is more indicative of the season he’s had. Take Boston on the run line.
MLB DAILY PREDICTION: BOSTON RED SOX RL -115