Oakland Athletics vs. Boston Red Sox Prediction 7-19-23 MLB Picks
The Boston Red Sox and the Oakland A’s meet in MLB action from the Oakland Coliseum on Wednesday afternoon. This is the rubber match of the three-game series after Oakland’s 3-0 win over the BoSox on Tuesday. Let’s dive into this game and give out a pick.
The Sock Is On The Other Foot
Normally, it’s been the A’s that have been on the wrong end of games with a lack of offense, but on Tuesday, it was the Red Sox that weren’t able to crack the score sheet as they were shut out for the 6th time this season. The other reason that it came as a shock was because in the month of July, the Red Sox are the best team in baseball in terms of team OPS, isolated power and wRC+. Rafael Devers leads the Red Sox with 23 home runs and 73 RBIs while Masataka Yoshida leads Boston with 103 hits coming on a .318 batting average so far this season. The Red Sox in July haven’t been knocked down often and when they are, they usually bounce back strong and they’ll have a chance to do just that against Ken Waldichuk, who has been more of a spot-starter/relief arm for the A’s, but still owns a 6.66 ERA this season.
Oakland Gets Straight A’s For Once
There wasn’t much that the A’s did wrong in Tuesday’s win over Boston and that’s a rarity for an A’s team that is well in the running to challenge for the worst record in MLB history with a 26-71 record after snapping their eight-game losing streak with Tuesday’s victory. Brent Rooker leads the A’s with 16 home runs and 44 RBIs while Esteury Ruiz has a team-high 86 hits and 43 stolen bases with a .257 batting average, but the A’s continue to miss Ruiz from the lineup as Ruiz continues to nurse a shoulder injury. The A’s will have their work cut out for them here if they want back-to-back wins, as Brayan Bello starts for Boston and hasn’t allowed more than 3 earned runs in a start since his debut back in Mid-April.
Chris’ Pick
I have to take the Red Sox here. Boston’s just the better team by a fair margin with a huge starting pitching edge, and like I outlined earlier, Brayan Bello has been a machine as of late. The A’s have had a tendency to shoot themselves in the foot more often than not, and consecutive strong showings are not something this Oakland team is known for. Give me the Red Sox here.
