The New York Yankees (43-35) and Oakland Athletics (20-60) will square off in the first of a three-game series Tuesday night. The A’s will host this one at the Oakland Coliseum, with first pitch scheduled for 9:40 pm ET.
The Yankees are the favorites in this one despite playing on the road. They are -142 to win, while the A’s moneyline sits at +120. The runline features Oakland +1.5 (-132), and the over/under for total runs is eight.
Yankees Try To Keep Ground Without Superstar
Playing in Major League Baseball’s toughest division, the Yankees sit in third in the AL East, 9.5 games behind the Tampa Bay Rays. Even worse, they are without their star slugger Aaron Judge, who is dealing with a torn ligament in his big toe. Still, the Yankees will look to improve on their 18-16 road record on Tuesday.
The Yankees will send 25-year-old righty Jhony Brito to the bump for the opener. In 11 games, he is 4-3 with a 4.89 ERA, 1.37 WHIP, and he has 33 strikeouts in 46 innings. He picked up the win in his last start, throwing 5.2 scoreless innings against the Mariners.
New York ranks 19th in scoring this season, averaging 4.35 runs per game (4.56 on the road). With Judge out of the lineup, first baseman Anthony Rizzo has been one of the Yankees’ strongest hitters with a .270/.353/.433 slash line. He also has 11 home runs, 37 runs batted in, and 36 runs scored.
Keep an eye on both Rizzo and Giancarlo Stanton in this one as they have both homered off of Oakland’s Paul Blackburn in their career.
A’s Trying To Get Out Of The Cellar
At 20-60, the Oakland A’s have the worst record in all of baseball, two games worse than the Kansas City Royals. Trying to climb out of baseball’s cellar, they will also look to improve on their poor 9-29 home record.
Oakland will turn to 29-year-old righty Paul Blackburn in this one. In five games, he is 0-0 with a 4.21 ERA, 1.48 WHIP, and he has 30 strikeouts in 25.2 innings. In his last three starts, he has allowed a combined six earned runs over 16.2 innings of work.
The A’s have statistically had the worst defense to date. They rank last in scoring defense, allowing a whopping 6.30 runs per game (5.84 at home).
On the offensive side, they also rank dead last in scoring. They are averaging just 3.50 runs per game and are even worse at home at just 3.05 runs per game.
Brent Rooker has been the strongest hitter to date. In 227 at bats, he is hitting .242/.343/.467 with a team-leading 13 home runs, and 38 runs batted in.
Take The Yankees To Win And Cover
New York comes into this one having gone 4-2 in their last six games. Even though they are 1-4 in their last five road games, they are 8-2 in their last 10 against the A’s.
For Oakland, they are 1-10 in their last 11 games and winless in their last five home games. In five of their last six games against the Yankees, the UNDER has hit.
While Jhony Brito is far from an ace, it is just tough to bet on Oakland this season. Yes, they had a decent stretch of games a few weeks ago, but those days seem long gone with their recent play.
Take New York to win and don’t be surprised if they cover the -1.5 runline (+112).
