After splitting the first two games of this series, the Los Angeles Angels and Texas Rangers duel once again tonight as they continue this four-game clash on the West Coast.
Here’s an Angels vs. Rangers prediction and pick on DraftKings Sportsbook for Wednesday night’s game.
Angels vs. Rangers prediction, preview
The Angels took game one of the series by a slim 6-5 margin on Monday, but the Rangers blew them out in spectacular fashion with a 13-1 win last night. The Los Angeles offense looked flat-out helpless against Nathan Eovaldi, who threw six innings with just five hits allowed, one unearned run and six strikeouts. The one-run performance looked more typical of this Angels team which usually struggles to reach base with any measure of consistency with the third-worst batting average and fourth-worst OBP on the year.
Texas’ bats showed up last night, a bit of a rarity overall since they still fall 24th in scoring this season and slash just a shade better than their opponents at fourth-worst in AVG and fifth-worst in OBP. Expecting a similar explosion on offense tonight would be unwise given half a season’s sample suggesting the Rangers can’t hit the ball well, but they also don’t have a significant advantage as usually provided by their rotation as Kumar Rocker throws this evening. The 25-year-old is the weakest link among the starters with a 5.80 ERA and 1.49 WHIP across 45.0 innings so far, so while the sample size remains small, he’s not pitching well at all.
However, lefty Kyle Hendricks takes the mound this evening for Los Angeles and doesn’t have much better numbers. His ERA sits at 4.68 with a 1.27 WHIP and modest 62 strikeouts over 92.1 innings on the campaign, and it’s far harder to trust the Angels’ bullpen than the Rangers’. This might end up an ugly game.
Angels vs. Rangers pick, best bet
The odds on DraftKings Sportsbook indicate another toss-up tonight. The Rangers are -119 favorites again on the Moneyline but the Angels are -102 themselves, identical odds to yesterday’s matchup. As for the run total, it sits at 9.5.
Even given the relatively poor pitcher matchup, the run total just feels a little bit too high for this contest. Rocker may very well concede a couple of earned runs early but the Rangers’ pen can easily limit L.A. for the remainder of the outing. While the Angels’ pitching doesn’t inspire the same confidence, last night’s scoring outburst by the Rangers is the exception, not the norm. This has the makings of a gross 4-3 finish written all over it, or at least a similar outcome, so I’m comfortable taking under 9.5 combined runs at -118 rather than targeting a team to win or cover.
Best bet: Under 9.5 runs (-118)
Click the odds on this bet to tail!
