Game: Oakland Athletics @ Los Angeles Angels
Time: 9:38 p.m. ET
Odds: Athletics +185, Angels -225
Total: 7
Angels’ star Shohei Ohtani was not traded away at the deadline as many had speculated. He’ll stick around in 2022 and will be eligible to be a free agent in 2023. He has expressed a desire to play for a winner, something that the Angels haven’t done in a long time. Heading into Wednesday, the Angels are 44-59 and in fourth place in the AL West. They are 22 games out of first place and are six games ahead of last-place Oakland who happens to be their opponent tonight. Ohtani will take the mound for his 18th start of the season. He’ll match up against the A’s James Kaprelian.
Ohtani is now 9-6 on the season after having lost each of his last two starts. He pitched 6.1 innings against Atlanta and got rocked for six earned runs. In his last start, he pitched six innings against Texas and allowed just two earned runs. Ohtani has struck out double-digit batters in six straight starts and he had a stretch of four consecutive starts without allowing a single earned run.
The Angels’ ace has not faced Oakland yet this season. He really hasn’t done all that well against the A’s in his career so far. He is 2-2 with a 3.55 ERA in six starts. Ohtani is still in the mix for the AL MVP again. He went 1-for-4 last night in a 3-1 win over the A’s. That brings his season batting average to .255. Ohtani has 22 home runs and 62 RBIs. On the mound, his season ERA is now 2.81 and he has 145 strikeouts in 99.1 innings.
Oakland has lost three in a row, but the Athletics are 7-5 since the All-Star break. Their offense has picked up. Before the break, the Athletics were a bottom-five scoring team averaging just 3.3 runs per game. In the 12 games since the All-Star game, the A’s are averaging 4.2 runs per game and they have scored five runs or more in half of those 12 games.
The Athletics will start the right-handed Kaprelian tonight. It will be his 17th start of the season. He is 2-5 with a 4.50 ERA. Oakland has won his Kaprelian’s last three straight starts and five of his last six. In those six starts, Kaprelian gave up three earned runs twice and in the other four starts allowed either 0 or 1 earned run. In three career starts against the Angels, he is 2-0 with a 1.03 ERA.
The Athletics are just 1-5 SU in their last six games against the Angels. They recently swept Houston before losing two of three to the White Sox and then losing last night’s games against L.A. The Angels are just 6-14 SU in their last 20 games and they are only 2-6 in their last eight home games. They have struggled at home all season and are 24-30 at Angel Stadium this season.