The Oakland Athletics are looking to claw their way out of last place in the American League East and will look to build positive momentum when they play the Minnesota Twins on the road on Friday.
Oakland Athletics vs. Minnesota Twins (-175, 8.5)
Pitcher Mitch Spence gets his sixth start of the year after beginning the season in the bullpen and enters having posted up a 2.77 ERA in the role of a starter after having a 4.26 ERA in the bullpen.
Between his starts and bullpens appearances, Spence has a 3.68 ERA with a 3.17 fielding independent with just seven straight per nine innings this season, but also just 0.5 home runs per nine innings allowed, including just one home run across his 28 innings in a starting role.
The Athletics back up Spence with a bullpen that entered the series on Thursday ranked seventh among MLB teams in bullpen ERA while the Twins ranked 16th in bullpen ERA and will turn to starting pitcher, Simeon Woods-Richardson, to continue the Athletics’ struggles at the plate.
In 10 starts this season, Woods-Richardson has supplied a 2.84 ERA and 3.54 fielding independent, pitching to a lot of soft contact with just 7.5 strikeouts per nine innings, but also allowing only two walks and 0.9 home runs per nine innings.
While the Athletics are eighth among MLB teams in percentage of at-bats on the road that result in a home run, they are registering just 3.1 runs per game away from home with only the Chicago White Sox scoring fewer runs per game on the road.
Additionally, Oakland is playing in a ballpark in Minnesota that has been the friend of pitchers this season as the Twins entered the series averaging nearly 4.8 runs per game away from home compared to 4.25 runs per game at home.
With the way both starting pitchers are rolling coupled with Oakland’s offensive struggles, Friday sets up for a pitcher’s du in Minnesota.
The Play: Athletics vs. Twins Under 8.5 Runs
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