In one of the most shocking results of the season, the Atlanta Braves have dropped the first two games of their three-game series against the Oakland Athletics, the worst team in baseball.
The Braves, amidst pitching injuries, will continue to lean on left handed Jared Shuster to stop the bleeding against the lowly A's, who match the rookie with right-handed veteran James Kaprielian. Can Oakland's offense stay hot and make an improbable sweep at home?
Here are the odds for Wednesday's matchup:
Braves vs. Athletics odds, run line and total
Braves vs. Athletics prediction and pick
Shuster has struggled with his control through five big league starts, walking 15 batters to 20 strikeouts through 25 1/3 innings. Surprisingly, the A's are adept at hitting left handed pitching, batting .258 when facing southpaws, 14th in the big leagues.
With Shuster's inabilty to limit free base runners, the A's can continue to get the better of the Braves pitching staff.
Of course, though, Atlanta is in line to do the heavy lifting in this one. The team is second in slugging percentage this season and should have little issue teeing off on Kaprielian, who is allowing nearly two home runs per nine innings and has an ERA of 8.45.
He has struggled to go long into games this season, pitching past the fifth inning just once and that will leave the A's big league worst bullpen (6.31) vulnerable to allowing runs over extended run.
This should be a high scoring matchup with questions about Shuster's effectiveness. I'll play the over as my favorite bet in this game.
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Game odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.
