Katie Stratman-USA TODAY Sports/Sipa USA

Oakland Athletics vs Cincinnati Reds: Can the A’s keep on winning?

The Oakland Athletics are visiting the Cincinnati Reds today at Great American Ball Park.

The Atheltics have a good week

The Oakland Athletics are fourth in the AL West with a 58-75 record, including 25-40 on the road. Oakland has won their last three games including the first two of this series. The Athletics have a 4.26 ERA, a .253 batting average, a .332 on-base percentage, and 1.32 walks plus hits per inning pitched. Brent Rooker leads the team with 122 hits, 64 runs and 31 home runs.

The Reds need to pick up their game

The Cincinnati Reds are fourth in the NL Central with a 63-70 record, including 3136 at home. They have lost five of their last six games. The Reds have a 4.05 ERA, a .236 batting average, a .310 on-base percentage, and 1.25 walks plus hits per inning pitched. Elly De La Cruz is the best player on the team, leading with 133 hits, 88 runs, and 22 home runs.

Betting Trends

The Reds are 1-5 SU in their last 6 games overall, 0-5 SU in their last 5 home games and 1-4 SU in their last 5 games against teams from the AL West. Cincinnati has played over the total run line in 6 of their last 9 games overall, 4 of their last 5 games against teams from the AL and has stayed under in 13 of their last 20 games against Oakland and 4 of their last 5 home games against them. The Athletics are 4-2 SU in their last 6 games overall, 6-3 SU in their last 9 games against the Reds, 6-1 SU in their last 7 games on the road and 7-2 ATS in their last 9 games against teams from the NL Central. Oakland has played under the total run line in 8 of their last 11 games overall.

Prediction and Conclusion

Both teams will most likely miss the playoffs again, but the Athletics are definitely the better team at the moment. They won the first two games of the series (5-4 and 9-6) and will try to sweep their first series in a while. The A’s will start J.T. Ginn, who is 0-0 for the season with a 2.45 ERA, 4 K, 3.2 IP, and 1.09 WHIP. The Reds will also start with a pitcher who did have much playing time this season. Rookie Julian Aguiar is 1-0 for the season, with a 3.60 ERA, 6 K, 10 IP, and 1.00 WHIP. Given the fact that both pitchers are not reliable at the moment, the total run line is set pretty high at 10 runs, but we still go with over as this will be a high-scoring game.