The Cincinnati Reds are hanging in the National League Wild Card race as they head to the West Coast to visit the Athletics in Sacramento. The A’s have some of the best young hitters in baseball and one of the most homer-friendly environments in the sport at Sutter Health Park. The series starts with a Friday night showdown at 10:05 p.m. ET.
The Reds took two of three games from the Mets in Cincinnati last weekend to tighten the NL Wild Card race back up. They then took two of three games in San Diego, while the Phillies swept the Mets, shrinking New York’s lead to just 1.5 games over the Reds for the third and final playoff spot. The Reds are 74-72 overall this season, while the Athletics are 67-80 and are coming off losing two of three games to the Red Sox to start the week.
The Athletics are home favorites at -126 on the Moneyline, with the run total for the game at 10.5. Let’s preview this Friday night matchup with the help of some odds and lines on DraftKings Sportsbook.
Reds at Athletics prediction, preview
As you can tell from that run line, the offense should be flying in this contest. The weather is warm and the wind will be blowing gently out, so it should be a good environment for bats, especially with shaky pitching in play.
The Athletics will give the ball to J.T. Ginn, who had a strong five-inning outing in his last start while allowing just one run, but he had been hammered in his previous six starts, going 0-4 in August with 23 runs allowed in 27 1/3 innings. He did have 34 strikeouts in those six starts, but gave up seven homers and a 47.4% hard-hit rate.
Ginn will be looking to build on his last start and trend upwards towards a rotation spot the rest of the way, but he has a 6.64 ERA and 6.32 FIP at home at Sutter Health Park.
On the other side, the Reds will counter with Brady Singer. Singer has been a nice pickup for the Reds, who snagged him in a trade from the Royals in exchange for Jonathan India. In his 28 starts this year, he is 13-9 with a 3.98 ERA and 3.77 FIP. Singer has allowed zero or one runs in six of his last eight games, going 6-1 with a 2.11 ERA and 2.70 FIP.
In those eight starts, Singer has stacked up 52 strikeouts in 47 innings. He has totaled at least eight strikeouts in four of those eight starts. Despite five of those games at Great American Ballpark and one at Chase Field, he has only allowed two home runs and a 32.8% hard-hit rate over those eight outings.
The Athletics were shut out in two of their three games against the Red Sox and scored just eight runs total in their last four games. While they have plenty of potential power, they also go quiet as a group at times. They have scored three runs or fewer in five of their last eight games, and Singer comes in with good momentum, so he could hold the A’s in check.
The Reds have been in generally lower-scoring games than the Athletics, but they have been winning close contests, beating the Padres 4-2 and 2-1 in the last two games.
One hitter who has been consistently performing well for the Reds lately is Austin Hays. The 30-year-old comes into this matchup with an eight-game hitting streak, and during that stretch, he is 10-for-32 (.313) with a double, three homers, and a .384 wOBA. I highlighted Hays in my top home run props for the day, and his props are generally affordable.
Spencer Steer has also been productive lately, picking up 11 hits in 11 games and hitting .314 with three doubles and two homers. Ke’Bryan Hayes has also been a very nice trade pickup, going 14-for-44 (.378) with a double and a home run over his last 12 games.
On the Athletics’ side, the offense is led by impressive rookie Nick Kurtz and catcher Shea Langeliers, who each have 30 homers.
Reds vs. Athletics pick, best bet
Best Bet: Reds Moneyline (+104)
The Reds enter in better form with a huge starting pitcher advantage. They don’t have as many exciting young bats like Kurtz, but they have been playing well as a team and coming up clutch, while the A’s still seem a few pitchers away from being ready to contend.
Strong Lean: Brady Singer over 5.5 strikeouts recorded (+106)
Singer has gone over this strikeout line in five of his last eight games and eight of his last 14. He had five strikeouts in his last start against the Mets, but the A’s aren’t nearly as good at strikeout suppression as New York.
