Texas Rangers @ Oakland Athletics Preview
The Oakland Athletics are trying to avoid falling into a losing record as they did last season. The A’s started out 20-20 last season only to drop eight games which led to their memorable comeback. This season they again find themselves sitting at 20-20 and facing off against the AL West’s leader the Texas Rangers.
The A’s are only five games behind the Rangers and would love to start building up so they can eventually take the division.
The Rangers will be looking to even up the series. The A’s took the first game in this three game series with a 5-1 victory on Monday night.  The win also snapped the Rangers four-game win streak.
Bartolo Colon will pitch for the A’s as clinching a series win against their division rivals will rest on his shoulders.  While he has only allowed one walk over 41 innings, Colon has been struggling as of late. In his last three outings he has pitched with an 8.22 ERA. Overall his ERA sits at 4.57 and he has allowed 46 hits. The A’s will need the veteran to return to form in order to clinch this series.
Derek Holland, on the other hand, has seemed to find his stride as of late. Last season, the southpaw allowed 1.64 home runs per nine innings making him a favorite pitcher among power-hitters. However, this season he has only allowed .36 over nine innings, only allowing two homers over 49 innings. Holland’s overall ERA is at 2.54.
“I’m still throwing a lot of strikes and not doing anything different, I’m just executing pitches better,” Holland said. “I’m not paying attention to giving up home runs. I’m making sure I throw strikes and not walk people.”
Holland has had success in Oakland in the past. While sitting at a 2-2 record when playing the A’s on their home turf, he has a 2.97 ERA when throwing in Oakland.
If the Rangers has pitching on their side we could see the series tied up. Unless Oakland finds a way to hit against one of the Rangers top pitchers.
The point spread favors the Rangers. The money line at Bovada to bet on the A’s is set at +105. To bet on the Ranger the money line is -125. The game starts at 10:05 p.m. ET.
