Oakland Athletics (3-16) vs. Texas Rangers (12-6)
April 22, 2023 7:05 pm EDT
The Line: Texas Rangers -256 / Oakland Athletics +190; Over/Under: +8.5
(Get latest betting odds)
The Oakland Athletics and the Texas Rangers meet Saturday in MLB action from Globe Life Field. This will be the second installment in a three-game weekend series. In the Friday opener, the A’s eked out a one-run comeback victory. Check back all season long for free MLB picks at Sports Chat Place.
Oakland Athletics
The Athletics played the Cubs this week, losing all three games 10-1, 4-0 and 12-2. On Friday versus Texas, Oakland came back from a 4-0 deficit to power out a 5-4 victory. Starting pitcher JP Sears put up 6.0 innings, four earned, five hits and two walks with 11 strikeouts.
For the starter job on Saturday it’ll be the Athletics’ Shintaro Fujinami. In his three starts so far Fujinami is 0-3 with an 11.37 ERA and 10 strikeouts in 12.2 innings. He’s coming off 6.0 innings with three earned in a loss to the Mets on April 15.
Texas Rangers
Over on the Rangers’ side, they played the Royals in their last series and managed a three-game sweep. On Friday Texas scored all their runs in the first inning and couldn’t get anything going afterward. Jon Gray managed 5.1 innings in the start with three earned, five hits and five walks.
Andrew Heaney will take the mound for the Rangers on Saturday. In his three starts thus far Heaney is 1-1 with a 4.97 ERA and 16 Ks in 12.2 innings. Heaney is 37-43 with a 4.56 ERA in 140 career games (129 starts).
The A’s are 22-49 in their last 71 on grass and 15-36 in their last 51 road games. Oakland is 14-37 in their last 51 overall.
Meanwhile, the Rangers are 5-14 in their last 19 in game two of a series and the over is 26-9 in their last 35 in game two of a series. Texas is 2-6 in their last eight versus the AL West.
ANDREW’S FREE PICK
I’ll stick with Texas here. Realistically the line is too thick to mess with, though. Heaney had a rough start on April 4 versus Baltimore (2.2 innings; seven earned) but he’s done well in his last two outings. Heaney has 10.0 combined innings in that time with zero earned, five walks and four hits. On Friday the Rangers had some early success but fizzled down the stretch. The good news is that six different players had at least one hit, so the offensive output was pretty balanced. I like a better outcome for Texas in game two.
