The Detroit Tigers play the Oakland Athletics at the Oakland Coliseum on Friday night.
Detroit has won three in a row after suffering four consecutive losses. On the other hand, the A’s head home with a four-game winning streak after opening the season with six consecutive losses. The teams were still playing as of this writing.
Detroit is 3-3 on the road this season while Oakland is 1-6 at home.
The Detroit Tigers are 6-6 to start the season and they are currently in 3rd place in the AL Central division. The Tigers head to this game after losing Game 1 to the A’s on Wednesday. Detroit needs to get more out of their pitching staff if they are to improve on last season’s 114 losses.
Currently, their pitching staff is ranked 27th in the majors with an ERA of 5.09 and they are also 23rd overall with a WHIP of 1.41. Meanwhile, opposing hitters are hitting .244 against their pitching staff. On Friday, offseason acquisition Jose Orena will open on top of the mound for the Tigers. The right-hander has struggled this season with an ERA of 8.22 with 9 strikeouts and an 0-2 record.
Detroit also needs to improve at the plate as they have a team batting average of .241 which is ranked 24th. They are also just 20th in on-base percentage at .297. The Tigers however hit the ball hard with a slugging percentage of .412 which is 7th in the entire league. Akil Baddoo leads the team with 11 RBIs heading to Thursday’s Game 1 while Wilson Ramos has six homers to pace the team
The Athletics have a 5-7 record heading to Thursday’s Game 1 and are 5th in the AL West team standings. Oakland has the worst pitching staff in the majors with a team ERA of 6.0 which is easily the worst among the league’s 30 teams. Their WHIP of 1.56 is also near the bottom at 29th overall. Opposing teams have a batting average of .279 against the A’s which is again, the worst in the league.
Frankie Montas will open on top of the Hill for the A’s in Game 2. The right-hander has made two appearances this season and has a record of 1-1 with an ERA of 8.31 and nine strikeouts. This season Montas has conceded eight runs on 13 hits while pitching in 8 ½ innings.
On the plate, Oakland isn’t any better. Their team batting average of .211 is ranked 26th overall. They are slugging at a .354 clip which is also 28th in the majors. The A’s have scored a total of 48 runs this season which is 22nd among 30 MLB teams. Jedd Lowrie is batting at .333 and has a team-high 11 RBIs.
Detroit is 58-135 in their last 193 games overall. The Tigers are 58-135 in their last 193 games overall, 57-133 in their last 170 games on grass, 24-58 in their last 82 road games, 20-50 in their last 70 Friday games, and 26-66 in their last 92 Game 2s of a series, and 51-133 in their last 184 games as the betting underdogs. Detroit is also 2-6 in their last eight games against an opponent with a losing record, and 12-44 in their last 56 games against the American League West.
Oakland is 4-0 in their last four games overall, 4-0 in their last four games on grass, 4-1 in their last five Friday games, 4-1 in their last five games against a right-handed starter, 41-13 in their last 56 games against the American League Central, and 90-40 in their last 130 games as betting favorite at home, 49-24 in their last 74 games against an opposing pitcher with a WHIP of more than 1.3.
The A’s started the season poorly and statistically, they aren’t that good. But they have won their last four games heading to this home contest.
Jed Lowrie is off to a great start as he leads the A’s in batting average, home runs, RBIs, and hits. Oakland has won four out of its last five games against left-handed starters and they have dominated this matchup against Detroit, winning 7 of their last 8 at home, and 21 of 26 overall. The Tigers meanwhile, have struggled on the road, winning just 24 times in their last 82 road games.
Prediction: Oakland Athletics -180
The total has gone under is the Tigers’ last six Friday games. The under is 4-0 in the Tigers’ last four road games against an opponent with a losing record, 5-1 in their last six games against an opponent with a winning record, and 5-1 in their last six games against a starter with a WHIP of over 1.3. Detroit has seen the total go under in 17 out of their last 29 games against the AL West.
The total has gone over in seven out of the last eight games of Oakland when they are the betting favorites. The over is 7-1 in their last eight home games against a right-handed starter, 8-3 in their last 11 home games, 9-2 in their last 11 games when the total is set between 7.0-8.5, and 13-5 in their last 18 games overall.
Detroit ranks just 24th in the majors with their .221 batting average and the A’s are even hitting worse at .211 or 26th overall. So far, Oakland has scored 48 runs or four runs per game while Detroit has produced 49 runs and averaging 4.09 runs per contest. The under is 9-2-1 in their last 12 meetings and the total has gone under in four out of their last six meetings at Oakland Stadium. All signs point to the under.
Prediction: Under 8.5
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