Houston (75-63) at Oakland (59-79)
When: Tuesday, September 8th, 2015
Where: O.co Coliseum, Oakland, CA
Time: 10:05 ET
TV: DirecTV 674, 698 Radio: XM 176
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The Houston Astros furious rally fell short yesterday as the Oakland A’s won a slugfest 10-9. The Astros saw their lead in the American League West shrink to just 2 games over the Texas Rangers. Mike Fiers and Josh Fields each surrendered 4 runs as Houston fell behind 8-2 after 6 innings, but rallied with 4 in the 7th and 3 in the 8th. The Astros have scored 27 runs in their last 4 games so there’s nothing wrong there. It’s the pitching that has started to slump. Their bullpen has a 7.86 ERA in the last 10 games and a .364 OBP. The strong starting pitching and hot offense are keeping the Astros in first for now. Scott Kazmir looks to go deep in his first game in Oakland since being traded in July. He has a 2.77 ERA in 8 starts with Houston, but has only won 1 game since late July. Look for him to get better run support tonight.
The Oakland A’s are just trying to play spoilers in September. They will play 17 more games against the A.L. West to end the season including 14 against the Angels, Astros, and Rangers, all who are fighting for a playoff spot. The A’s broke a 5-game losing streak yesterday with their 10-9 win. They are now 2-5 on their 9-game home stand. They rank near the middle in the majors in most offensive and defensive categories, but one of the reasons they are 20 games under .500 is that they’re 16-31 in one-run games. That’s by far the worst in Baseball. They go with their ace tonight Sonny Gray. He is one of the best pitchers in the game, but has struggled recently. He has a 5.12 ERA in his last 3 starts and has given up 4 of his 14 homeruns in those games. Oddly enough, he is better on the road than he is in pitcher friendly O.co Coliseum. His ERA is over a run and a half worse at home.
This line is basically a Pickem despite the difference in records. It’s a great pitching matchup on paper, but the way the Astros are hitting and Gray’s recent struggles, I’ll take the Astros.
Pick: Astros -110
