The Cleveland Guardians and Oakland Athletics meet Monday in MLB action at Oakland Coliseum. Let’s preview this game and give out a pick and prediction.
The Cleveland Guardians have scored 17 runs in their last 3 games and 4 or more runs in 2 of their first 4 games. The Guardians have won 28 of their last 29 games when scoring 4 or more runs. Jose Ramirez leads the Guardians with 4 hits, while Andres Gimenez and Steven Kwan have combined for 8 hits and 7 RBI. Zach Plesac gets the ball, and he was 3-12 with a 4.31 ERA and 100 strikeouts last season. Plesac is 1-0 with a 3.75 ERA and 5 strikeouts in his career against the Athletics.
The Oakland Athletics have scored 3 runs in their first 3 games and 3 or fewer runs in all 3 games. The Athletics have lost 7 of their last 10 games when scoring 3 or fewer runs. Jesus Aguilar leads the Athletics with 3 hits, while Aledmys Diaz and Ramon Laureano have combined for 5 hits and 2 RBI. James Kaprielian gets the ball, and he was 5-9 with a 4.23 ERA and 98 strikeouts last season. Kaprielian is 0-1 with a 7.71 ERA and 5 strikeouts in his career against the Guardians.
The Guardians are 24-8 in their last 32 road games and 45-22 in their last 67 overall. The Athletics are 4-1 in their last 5 home games and 5-2 in their last 7 overall. The under is 8-3 in Guardians last 11 overall. The under is 4-1 in Athletics last 5 overall. The Guardians are 5-0 in the last 5 meetings in Oakland and 6-1 in the last 7 meetings.
The Cleveland Guardians offense is on fire out of the gate, and they had no issues producing on the road last season. Both Kaprielian and Plesac were up and down last season, and pitching in this big park could result in some fireworks. Reasonable total. I’ll take my chances with the over.