A’s Utilize Big Acquisition Against Royals

The Oakland Athletics were already one of the best teams in baseball and they came out of the trade deadline looking even better.

The A’s picked up a new ace before the trade deadline from the Boston Red Sox in Jon Lester and are looking forward to testing out their new toys against the Kansas City Royals.

The Royals are four games behind the Detroit Tigers in the AL Central standings and are looking to gain some ground. Now may be the time for the Royals to strike the seemingly untouchable A’s, as they are on a two-game losing streak and are 5-5 on their last ten.

However, if anyone is going to pull the A’s from this rut it could be Lester. He is in the middle of have a career-best season. He has a 1.07 ERA over his last eight starts. This will be the first time he has taking the mound in a uniform that doesn’t say “Boston” on it.

Overall, Lester’s ERA is 2.52. Lester is also very comfortable pitching against the Royals. When pitching against the Royals he has a 1.43 ERA in 11 starts.

Jason Vargas will be trying to spoil Lester’s first start with his new team. Vargas is coming off an injury that sidelined him for three weeks. In that start he took a 4-3 loss to the Tampa Bay Rays.

The A’s are the favorites to win this game with a -165 moneyline. To best on the Royals, the moneyline is set at +150. The game starts at 4:05 p.m. ET.