The Oakland Athletics and the Los Angeles Angels will take the field at the Angel Stadium of Anaheim at 10:05 PM ET tonight in a bid to provide fans who bet on MLB an interesting baseball betting proposition.
Athletics +1½ (-200) 9 (-105) EV
Angels -1½ (+170) 9 (-115) -110
This will be the second match of a three-game series that the Angels lead 1-0 following last night’s 5-4 win. Sometimes less is more, and the A’s found that out first hand when their three home runs were trumped by the Angels’ two. Oakland started strong with a 419-foot, 100-mph shot in the second inning, as well as another homer by Coco Crisp – who is presumably friends with Judge Fudge – in the fifth. However, the Halos’ rookies Jett Bandy and Jefry Marte did likewise – the former a two-run homer and the latter with Mike Trout and Albert Pujols on base – to put Anaheim ahead by the sixth. Yonder ‘Lies the Castle of my Father’ Alonso shortened the Angels’ to one in the eighth inning, but to paraphrase Julius Caesar, the die had been cast. Anaheim starter Matt Shoemaker threw seven strong innings but it was reliever Cam Bedrosian – filling in for disabled Huston Street – who picked up the first save of his career. Conversely, A’s starter Sean Manaea got his sixth loss of the season.
Oakland fans who bet on MLB will be happy to know that tonight’s Athletics starter Kendall ‘Ask for Me Tomorrow and You Shall Find Me A’ Graveman (7-7, 4.15 ERA) is on a roll, going 6-1 with a 3.34 ERA in his last 11 starts. The right-hander finished July 4-1 after taking a loss on Friday versus the Cleveland Indians, giving up four runs – three earned – on six hits (including a home run) and two walks with one strikeout in 6 1/3 innings. Prior to that game, Graveman had won six straight starts, doubling his previous career record and tying former Athletic Rich Hill for the longest streak for the team this season. The 25 year old is 1-1 with a 2.05 ERA in five career starts versus the Angels, including going 1-0 with a 1.38 ERA in three starts this season – in each of which he went at least six innings and allowed two runs or less, including lasting 6 2/3 innings and surrendering two runs and getting the win in his last start against the Halos.
Jered ‘Dream’ Weaver (8-8, 5.14 ERA), who will take the mound for the Angels, has been no slouch either, though. The righty surrendered only one run on six hits and two walks in 5 2/3 innings versus the Boston Red Sox on Thursday, just one out short from his 10th quality start in 2016. The 33 year old went 2-1 with 3.57 ERA in four July starts, allowing only one earned run in three of them. Weaver was hit-and-miss in two starts versus Oakland this season, with a 2.63 ERA and allowing four runs in 13 2/3 innings. Angels fans who bet on MLB should remember, though, that the veteran has historically pitched well versus Oakland, going 14-11 with a 2.73 ERA in 35 career starts.
